This extraordinarily beautiful dough bowl had many, many years of use at the pueblo before finding its way onto the marketplace. There is some slip loss, a crack from rim to base and a couple rim chips. The owner lovingly wrapped bailing wire around the rim to stabilize the crack so as to be able to continue using the bowl in her daily chores.

The very graphic and bold design is striking in its asymmetry. There are three black-tipped feathers in one oval negative design backed by two black triangles, each of which contains three negative-design leaves over a sprocket edge line.

In an unusual treatment, there are paired framing lines inside the rim and a single one outside the rim. All three have ceremonial breaks. A wide red band was wiped around the bowl under the decorated area, separating the base from the design.

This is truly a “museum quality” bowl in that it demonstrates ethnographic wear, native repairs, and exquisite design concept. There has been no attempt to professionally repair the piece, as that would interfere with the integrity of the bowl as it was when used at the pueblo. This is truly a collector’s piece.

Provenance: This Kiua Polychrome Well-Used Dough Bowl was shown in the exhibit BOWLS: A Pueblo Necessity December 15, 2006 until December 31, 2006 presented at adobe gallery Santa fe.

BOWLS: A Pueblo Necessity
(click here to view details of this past exhibit)

Adobe Gallery Recommended Reading

Recommended Reading: A River Apart: The Pottery of Cochiti & Santo Domingo Pueblos (click here to view details of book) by Valerie Verzuh, et al. (Available from Adobe Gallery)