Some of the earliest artifacts of Bengali art are specimens of pottery from Mahasangarh, in Northern Bangladesh. The pottery found ranges from the third century B.C. to A.D. 16th century. The pottery is mostly terra-cotta, which is a clay-based, unglazed ceramic. The terra-cotta is embellished with many religious symbols, like Hindu gods such as Krishna. Some ceramics found also contain etchings of daily life in the Bengali countryside.
"Harshacharita," a seventh century Bengali text, described artists who displayed scrolls that told of the rewards and punishments that Yama, the Lord of Death, doled out. Since then, itinerant artist-storytellers have used decorated scrolls, called patuas or pats, to help tell their narrative. Each narrative depicted on the scroll corresponds to the story being told. Pats were originally painted on cloth with vegetable dyes and natural pigments.
At the turn of the 20th century, Bangladesh's colonial ruler, the British Empire, influenced Bengali artists to paint in European styles. European influences, such as the cinema and theater, prompted paintings of Bengali theater backdrops and cinema decorations, as well as European-style portraits of Bengali aristocracy. In the early 1900s, renowned artists such as Havel popularized Oriental Art, or the Bengal School, which combined Mughal Bengali miniature art with Chinese and Japanese stylization. Their art functioned as an act of rebellion against European style and colonial rule.
Indigenous folk art was a kind of Bengali art. Artists painted designs on fabrics like muslin and Jamdani. Artists also produced Patachitra paintings, which were religious depictions of Krishna and other gods on cotton cloth. Chou masks were endemic to Bangladesh. Chou masks were clay masks of the faces of the gods that people wore during the Chou Dance, which celebrated divine heroism. Embroidery, leather crafts, wall hangings, handkerchiefs and Tepa Putul (Bengali dolls) were also artistic staples.