Historic Zuni Pueblo Nineteenth Century Pottery Canteen with Birds

This beautiful historic pottery canteen comes from Zuni Pueblo. It most likely dates to the 1880s, and it was clearly used heavily before it eventually found its way to the market. Ethnographic wear from handling and use covers much of the exterior, resulting in significant pigment loss but also leaving a beautiful patina and crackling of the clay slip—the type of appealing glow that historic pottery admirers appreciate. It is rare to see utilitarian pottery of this vintage still intact.

Two handles and a spout appear, which is common for canteens like these. The knob handles are flat ended. The user would often attach a strip of leather to the handles, creating a shoulder strap so that the canteen could be carried easily while working or traveling. With this piece, the ends of that strip still circle the handles; the longer shoulder strap was broken off at some point as the leather aged.

Painted designs appear on the exterior in a pattern that circles the top of the canteen. A Zuni rosette design sits at the top, with its center landing at the canteen's peak. "A very distinctive feature on vessels of Zuni Polychrome is the sunburst of flower petals in a circular configuration. These have been described as rosettes or sunflowers: Zuni potters told Ruth Bunzel in 1924 and 1925 that the designs were called ‘hepakinne'sunflower' or painting on Salimopiya (katsina) mask." [Lanmon & Harlow 2008:167]

Down below, three bird designs appear, with subtle variations in form and color enhancing the character of each figure. The base is painted black, with an additional line circling just above. As mentioned earlier, there is significant wear to these painted designs, but visual appeal remains strong regardless of the abraded surface. All of the remaining birds on the canteen have elaborate wing and tail feathers and the birds were executed in polychrome pigments.

This is a rare and beautiful example of this specific type of functional Zuni Pueblo pottery. All the examples of knob-handled canteens illustrated in Lanmon & Harlow (pp.350-51) are dated between 1870-1880.

Condition: wear from handling and use, no restoration or repair

Provenance: this Historic Zuni Pueblo Nineteenth Century Pottery Canteen with Birds is from a private Colorado collection

Recommended Reading: The Pottery of Zuni Pueblo by Lanmon and Harlow, 2008. Museum of New Mexico Press

TAGS: puki depression, pottery, Zuni Pueblo, old pottery