RARE Large Historic Cochiti Pueblo Pottery Dough Bowl by Reyes Romero

A large dough bowl such as this one is relatively rare from Cochiti Pueblo.  Many Cochiti families purchased dough bowls and large storage vessels from Santo Domingo neighbors.  This dough bowl was made by Reyes Romero, according to members of her family.  Apparently, she was making bread in 1960 and set the bowl on a chair.  As the dough rose the bowl fell to the floor and broke.  A gentleman from Tucson, Arizona, purchased the broken bowl from the family and we purchased the re-assembled bowl from him.

This bowl's designs are subtle and sparse.  The main design, which includes an interesting sideways rain cloud pattern, is repeated four times around the bowl's exterior.  Its patina is beautiful, and its size is impressive.  The repairs are visible on the bowl's interior but are fortunately invisible on its exterior.

Cochiti Pueblo made very little utilitarian pottery after the 1880s because of the large demand for figurative pottery.  Cochiti was the premier pueblo for making large figurines and there was a market for them, primarily by collectors, as museums thought them non-traditional and not worth putting in their collections.

According to Barbara Babcock in The Pueblo Storyteller, Reyes Romero was Seferina Ortiz’s grandmother and the mother of Laurencita Herrera.  Jonathan Batkin in Pottery of the Pueblos of New Mexico 1700-1940 stated “Pottery making both improved and increased between about 1910 and 1930, and a few potters excelled, for example Ignacita Suina Arquero, Lorencita Cordera, Stefanita Herrera, and Reyes Romero.”

Condition:  this bowl has been professionally restored and stabilized.

Provenance: this RARE Large Historic Cochiti Pueblo Pottery Dough Bowl by Reyes Romero was purchased by a Tucson collector from Romero's family

Recommended Reading:

- The Pueblo Storyteller - Development of a Figurative Ceramic Tradition by Barbara Babcock

- Pottery of the Pueblos of New Mexico 1700-1940 by Jonathan Batkin

TAGS: Cochiti Pueblo, figurative pottery, Santo Domingo, Seferina Ortiz, Laurencita Herrera, Ignacita Suina Arquero, Stefanita Herrera, Reyes Romero, Southwest Indian Pottery