RARE Cochiti Pueblo Vintage Painted Ceremonial Drum [SOLD]

This hand-held drum has a painted blue band outlined with a black frame, and painted white borders.  The drumheads are black in the areas that overlap on the sides, and natural color on both heads.  Painted designs decorate both heads.  The drum was made from a local cottonwood tree.

Spaniards introduced two-headed drums used by the Pueblo Indians of New Mexico over 400 years ago. They are used for ceremonies and rarely for other purposes.

Native drums are generally used during traditional dances at many of the Pueblos located along the Rio Grande and its streams.  The drum has played an intrinsic role in the lives of Native Peoples for centuries. Celebrations and ceremonial dances are accompanied by the reverberating pulse of the drum, which suggests the thunder that comes with rain.

Crafted from natural materials over a months-long process, American Indian drums are constructed of a wooden frame, or a carved and hollowed-out log. They can be natural or colorfully painted with solid colors or designs.  Drum bodies are created from native woods of New Mexico such as cottonwood, aspen, or pine. Drumheads are usually made from cow, deer, elk, goat, horse, or buffalo hide stretched taut across the opening by leather thongs.

Condition Report: good condition with some warping of one head which also has a small circular hole with evidence that there may have been a patch on this drumhead at some point. The sound of this drum is still quite impressively rich in timbre.

Provenance: this RARE Cochiti Pueblo Vintage Painted Ceremonial Drum is from the collection of a resident of Oklahoma

Recommended Reading: Rain—Native Expressions From the American Southwest by Ann Marshall