Historic Black-on-Cream Kewa Dough Bowl

This outstanding dough bowl was made by a Kewa Pueblo artist. It likely dates to the early 1900s. It's a large, hemispherical form, and it was clearly executed by a skilled potter. It shows evidence of handling and use, but the wear is quite light and mostly on the exterior. This is fortunate, as the artist chose to decorate the interior beautifully.

Within the bowl, the artist painted three large birds. They are equidistant from one another and nearly identical, creating a pattern that conveys motion and life as it circles the bowl. The birds' tail feathers burst open into what may be floral elements or corn stalks. The latter makes sense, given what a notable Kewa potter told us about the spot-filled, pointed ellipses that appear within these birds' bodies—they represent ears of corn.

One could interpret these figures as birds who've recently feasted on ears of corn, or birds merged with corn stalks. As is often the case with pueblo artworks, these symbolic representations of the natural world likely appear as prayers, both giving thanks for what has come and asking that more appear in the future. The rain cloud elements circling the rim could be interpreted the same way.

A rectangular design circles the exterior, repeating many times, with pairs of framing lines above and below. Curved triangular forms and leaf elements appear within the rectangular design. All three of each triangle's vertices touch a neighboring triangle's vertex, linking each element together into a larger composition that flows beautifully around the bowl.

Condition: excellent condition with light wear from handling

Provenance: this Historic Black-on-Cream Kewa Dough Bowl is from a private collection

Recommended Reading: A River Apart: The Pottery of Cochiti & Santo Domingo Pueblos by Valerie Verzuh, et al.

TAGS: Southwest Indian Pottery, Kewa - Santo Domingo Pueblo, Contemporary Pottery, Ceremonial breaks