Historic Polychrome Zuni Pueblo Dough Bowl Collected by Stevenson

James Stevenson visited Zuni Pueblo in 1879 and again in 1881, and still again in 1884 and 1885, as an agent for the Smithsonian's Bureau of Ethnology. During these trips, he collected over 5000 pottery vessels that were sent back to the Smithsonian. Each vessel was assigned an accession number. The accession notations written by Stevenson on the exterior of bowls collected during his visits to Zuni contain a six-digit number along with his name and Bur. Ethnol. The only remaining part of his notations appearing on this bowl is the number 3 which was the last of the six-digit number sequence.

This bowl is part of a collection of three Zuni bowls collected by a family from Oklahoma. The other two bowls still contain all of Stevenson's notations regarding accession sequence. It is obvious that this bowl was part of the same collection period but most of the notation has worn away.

This historic pottery bowl is traditional in all aspects of construction and design. The rim of the bowl rolls outward slightly and the interior of the rim flexes slightly, an added feature that enhances its shape. 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 the traditional prayer stick design used on every Zuni bowl made in the nineteenth century. It is thought that this was a woman's way to place her prayers since women do not make prayer sticks.

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 very distinctive ceremonial break. Traditional Zuni volutes fill the interior of the bowl down to a circle at the bottom.

Condition: This bowl is in excellent condition when one considers its age. It apparently had not been used extensively at the pueblo prior to Stevenson's acquisition. A very minor rim crack has been professionally stabilized with glue to prevent further expansion.

Provenance: this Historic Polychrome Zuni Pueblo Dough Bowl Collected by Stevenson is one of three inherited by the children of a family from Oklahoma. All three of these bowls are Stevenson Collection pieces that resided in the Smithsonian Institution at one time.

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

Recommended Reading: The Pottery of Zuni Pueblo by Dwight P. Lanmon and Francis H. Harlow 

TAGS: Zuni Pueblo, Pueblo Pottery