Zia Pueblo Tiles with a Single Design [SOLD]

The origin of pueblo pottery tiles is not known with certainty. It has been explained that they developed from traditional pottery slabs that Hopi potters made and fired, then crushed up for use as temper in their clay. From those, it is surmised that Thomas Keam visualized a commercial market to tourists if the slabs were finished properly and painted with Hopi designs. We do know that Keam was instrumental in bringing this pottery style to its fruition as a major item for tourist collections.

What is not explained, however, is how and why the same creation occurred at New Mexico Pueblos as early as the 1890s. It is not likely that New Mexico potters saw Hopi tiles. It is more likely that the New Mexico potters created the form independently, but which potters at which pueblo were first? There are 19th century tiles from San Ildefonso, Acoma, Zia and, perhaps, other pueblos, but they do not mirror the style from Hopi which helps to reinforce the idea that they were a simultaneous development at Hopi and in New Mexico.

This group of nine Zia Pueblo tiles was fashioned to display a single design concept. Most tiles are decorated as individual tiles with a complete design. This group was formed and set out in a manner to display a single painting image—that of a Zia bird surrounded by a frame of cloud-like elements.

This is the only group of tiles I have seen that was deliberately designed to be a set. There is nothing of this style in the book “Hopi & Pueblo Tiles: An Illustrated History” by Messier & Messier.

The tiles are framed in a shadowbox frame that is too difficult to open in order to see if the tiles are signed or not. Based on the patina, we are estimating that they date to the 1920s, in which case it is not likely that they are signed. If they are later than 1920s, there is a possibility that they are signed, but it is not feasible to check.

Condition: Two of the tiles each have a small chip on one corner, otherwise they are all in excellent condition.

Provenance: ex. coll. Pottery collector of Corrales, NM ex. coll. Rick Dillingham