Mother Turtle Pottery Figurine by Helen Cordero of Cochiti Pueblo [SOLD]

Pueblo potters have always drawn from the venerable traditions of the past, aware of the pueblo rules governing those traditions, yet able to create and innovate to their own satisfaction. In doing so, those artists were drawing on history and yet expressing their own artistic talent and creativity.  This was certainly true for Cochiti Pueblo potter Helen Cordero.

Helen Cordero (1915-1994) was encouraged by her aunt to experiment with making figurative pottery—specifically animals or animalitos. From this beginning, Cordero expanded her repertoire to human and animal figures that told stories. She is best known for creating the pueblo storyteller figurine that was inspired by memories of her grandfather. She also made a figure of a turtle with children on its back, a figurine inspired by a Cochiti Pueblo legend that refers to a turtle coming to rescue the children of the pueblo in time of turmoil, danger, or flood.

This mother turtle figurine with four children being rescued is a very typical representation of Cordero’s creation. On the back of the turtle are three boys sitting on a saddle blanket and holding on to each other. A single boy clutches the neck of the turtle. The turtle has a determined look on its face as it moves forward.

The turtle figurine is an older one, probably from the 1980s decade, and is in original excellent condition.

Provenance: 

- ex. coll. Phoenix, AZ pueblo pottery collector.

- ex. coll. Virginia pueblo pottery collector.