Historic Zuni Pueblo Polychrome Pottery Dough Bowl with Ethnographic Wear

Most Zuni dough bowls seem to be 14 inches or less in diameter. Rarely do we see ones larger. That seems to be the standard for most of the ones from Zuni Pueblo. This Historic Zuni Pueblo Polychrome Pottery Dough Bowl, however, is 16 inches in diameter.

It dates to the last quarter of the nineteenth century. The paste materials are typically Zuni, white and chunky in texture with the centuries old temper material of ground pottery shards. The use of old shards for temper evidences the regard of the pueblo peoples for the old works made by their predecessors. To add these remnants to the new work is a sign of respect.

The rim of the bowl is slightly indented from the exterior and has a distinctive inward curve on the interior, imparting a graceful shape to the bowl. The flexure of the interior of the rim is a feature that seems to be standard on Zuni bowls.

The bowl is slipped in traditional fashion with cream-colored clay, over which is painted the design in mineral and vegetal paints. The underbody is slipped in black, a tradition starting in the mid-1860s and continued to today. The exterior is decorated with traditional Zuni volutes that are an early portrayal of the Rainbird.

The interior decoration begins with a brown rim below which is a wave-like element encircling the bowl that is painted red and outlined in brown. Below this are two wide parallel framing lines with a ceremonial break. Traditional Zuni volute design Rainbird elements fill the interior of the bowl down to the bottom, which then has a red element that appears as a four-pointed star.

Condition: a section of the bowl was broken out but, fortunately, it was complete and able to be replaced professionally.

Provenance: this Historic Zuni Pueblo Polychrome Pottery Dough Bowl with Ethnographic Wear is from a gentleman from Santa Fe

References: 

- Harlow, Francis H. and Dwight P. Lanmon. The Pottery of Zuni Pueblo, 2008

- THE ‘RAIN BIRD’: a Study in Pueblo Design by H. P. Mera.  Memoirs of the Laboratory of Anthropology, vol. II. Santa Fé, New Mexico, 1937

TAGS: Zuni Pueblo, Pueblo Pottery