Santa Clara Polished Black Double Chamber Vessel [R]

The Pueblo Indians had very few vessel shapes that satisfied their needs for a thousand years.  Pre-historic pottery excavated seems largely to consist of bowls and cooking vessels.  No other shapes were needed or necessary.  Historic wares are quite similar.  There were water jars, of course, and small bowls for eating, larger bowls for serving, and large jars for storage.  Dough bowls did not exist until the mid-1800s because oven bread was not made until the pueblos accepted the white flour brought by the Spaniards. 

After the arrival of the Spaniards, some new shapes were made to satisfy the needs of the Spanish households in Santa Fe, but the real change came with the arrival of the train in 1880 and the hordes of Easterners who came to see the strange people who lived in New Mexico.  This double chamber pot is probably something that did not exist before 1880.  What was its purpose?  The two chambers are not connected through an open umbilical so liquids of two different sorts could be stored.  Was it for wine and water for a church?  Oil and vinegar for a Spanish household?  Probably no one today really knows and probably it is not important.  What is important is it is a relic from over 100 years ago made by the hands of a pueblo woman of a Tewa village.

There is an identical one pictured in Pueblo Pottery of the New Mexico Indians by Betty Toulouse, page 57, which is identified as from Tesuque Pueblo.  This one appears to be from Santa Clara but could be from any of the Tewa Pueblos—San Ildefonso, Tesuque, San Juan (Ohkay Owingeh), Santa Clara, Nambe or Pojoaque.  It is a rather unique item.

Condition: one spout has broken off at the rim, otherwise in very good condition

Recommended Reading: Pueblo Pottery of the New Mexico Indians by Betty Toulouse

Provenance: from the collection of a family from Colorado