Santa Clara Pueblo Pottery Salt and Pepper Set

This charming three-piece pottery salt and pepper set — complete with its own custom-molded cradle wirh carrying handle — is a quintessential example of mid-20th-century Southwest "tourist trade" art.

The Evolution of the Tourist Trade (1920s-1960s)

With the arrival of the railroads and the expansion of vehicle travel across the Southwest, Pueblo potters adapted their ancestral skills to meet the desires of a new buying public. To accommodate travelers who wanted lightweight souvenirs, potters began producing smaller, utilitarian items familiar to Euro-American households. Popular forms included sugar and creamer sets, candlesticks, ashtrays, vases, and beautifully designed salt and pepper sets like this one.

Between the 1920s and 1960s, potters excelled at making these fine, imaginative items. Ironically, while they were originally sold to travelers for the total sum of just a few dollars, they are now highly collectible pieces of cultural history.

This specific set presents a fascinating attribution detail for collectors: The underside of the set features "San Juan" written in pencil. Despite the inscription, the visual traits heavily align with the historic style of neighboring Santa Clara Pueblo. The geometric designs are expertly rendered in a matte palette of gray and orange, with each element crisply outlined in white slip.

Typically, these shakers used small corks inserted into the filling holes on the underside; note that the original corks are no longer present with this set. This set is an excellent, well-preserved example of historic Pueblo ingenuity, capturing the exact era where traditional pottery techniques met modern mid-century utility.

Condition: The set is in excellent condition

Provenance: this Santa Clara Pueblo Pottery Salt and Pepper Set is from the collection of a resident of Santa Fe

Recommended Reading: Collections of Southwestern Pottery: Candlesticks to Canteens, Frogs to Figurines by Allan Hayes and John Blum