Laguna Pueblo Polychrome Child Size Water Jar [SOLD]

The designation “child size water jar” is not meant to demean the item but to describe its size.  It does not indicate that the jar was made by a child but perhaps was made as a training aid for a young female to use in practicing walking with the jar on her head, with or without water. It also could have been made in a convenient size for a tourist to handle while in travel.

Our designation that this is from Laguna Pueblo is based on the orange lines that form triangles around the jar.  This is a typical design element of historic Laguna pottery.  I make this statement based on a conversation several years ago with Laguna potter Evelyn Cheromiah who stated without hesitation that the wide orange-colored bars zigzagging around the body of the vessel were a very traditional Laguna design style as were the black diamonds with white lines splitting them in halves. The jar probably dates to the period shortly after World War II.

Refugees from Acoma, Zuni and other pueblos established Laguna Pueblo a few years after the Pueblo Revolt of 1680. Its date of establishment was 1699. As a result, its pottery can be very like that of Acoma and Zuni Pueblos, and, for the most part, is indistinguishable from ceramics at Acoma, but not so much from that at Zuni except for similarity in design elements. Acoma and Laguna clay is similar but Zuni clay differs from that at those two pueblos.  Sometimes designs must be used as a guideline for distinguishing ceramics at Laguna.

Condition: very good condition

Provenance: from a private collection

Reference: Acoma & Laguna Pottery by Rick Dillingham