Rare and Beautiful Tesuque Pueblo Small Historic Pottery Bowl [SOLD]

One can determine by visual inspection when a work had a special meaning for the artist. This small Tesuque Pueblo bowl easily displays its special meaning to the maker. It was a labor of love. The vessel shape started with a rounded bottom that then continued upward over the expanding wall section to a rim that curves in just so slightly. After completing the construction of the bowl, the potter scraped the excess clay to a successful thin wall that equaled those achieved by Acoma potters.

The color of the natural clay falls between cream and tan-not too light, not too dark. According to Jonathan Batkin, "Collections made at Tesuque between 1870 and 1880 indicate that white-slipped polychrome pottery was the most popular . . ." [Batkin 1987:57] It appears that this bowl preceded the use of white slip.

With much patience, the potter stone polished the exterior of the bowl. The polishing was so well done that that polishing marks do not exist, an indication of experience in polishing and patience in carrying out the procedure-many laborious hours of work.

At just above the widest diameter of the body of the bowl, she painted a thin red band that serves as the bowl's only added design by the artist. The additional design was added by the natural process of the outdoor firing which practically covered the area of the bowl below the red line with beautiful black fire clouds. Interestingly, the area of the vessel above the red line has no fire clouds. This successful application of fire clouds was not by accident. The potter expertly placed the bowl in the firing kiln to achieve this division display of fire clouds.

It appears that the bowl dates to the 1870s, an analysis based on the rounded bottom and the simplified design concept. It has lovingly been cared for over those years.

Condition: there are very minimal rim abrasions and two thin cracks vertically from the rim, both of which seem to have been stabilized.

Provenance: this Rare and Beautiful Tesuque Pueblo Small Historic Pottery Bowl is from the collection of a client from Colorado

Reference and Recommended Reading: Batkin, Jonathan. Pottery of the Pueblos of New Mexico 1700-1940, The Taylor Museum of the Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center, 1987

TAGS: Southwest Indian Pottery, Historic Pottery, Tesuque Pueblo