Santa Clara Pueblo Black Jar with Paired Bear Paws [SOLD]

Santa Clara Pueblo and Ohkay Owingeh (San Juan) Pueblo came under the influence of mercantile merchants in Espanola in the late 1800s.  Santa Clara is only 3 miles from Espanola and Ohkay Owingeh only 6 miles distant.  When the train known as the Chili Line from Denver arrived and the Atchison Topeka and Santa Fe train passed through New Mexico on its daily trips between Chicago and California, trade goods came too. 

Espanola was a major trade center at the time and many merchants stored commercially-made goods that competed with handmade pueblo pottery.  Many potters ceased making pottery for their own use and switched to commercial vessels.  Sara Fina Tafoya was a potter who did not quit making pottery and there obviously were a few others.

This globular polished black jar from Santa Clara dates to the late 1800s and was one that was made for use.  Water marks on the inside of the vessel and ladle wear at the rim are evidence of prior use.  The globular vessel shape is typical of the 1870s – 1880s eras.

Who made it?  That we do not know.  The bear paws are not of the style associated with the Tafoya family.  The curved line under the three depressions of each bear paw do not extend upward sufficiently as those by Sara Fina.  Hers are more U-shaped and these are more new moon shape.  The bear paws are paired on this vessel and are displayed in opposing position, a layout not associated with any Tafoya family member.

The tendency is to associate the bear paw design with the early Tafoya potters, but it existed for over a thousand years before Sara Fina’s time.  It is a design reserved for use on water vessels, a design based on an old legend about the bear always knowing how to find water.  A jar with bear paws will never be empty of water.

Condition: minor surface abrasion and rim ladle wear associated with prior use

Recommended Reading:  Born of Fire: the Life and Pottery of Margaret Tafoya by Charles King

Provenance: from a collector in Colorado