Zia Pueblo Utilitarian Historic Pottery Dough Bowl [SOLD]

This gorgeous historic pottery dough bowl was created by Rosalia Medina Toribio, a Zia Pueblo artist, in the early 1900s.  It is in excellent condition for a utilitarian bowl, with light wear from use and no cracks, chips, or repairs.  Its patina is rich and smokey, making the bowl’s history of use and handling evident in a way that will appeal to many historic pottery collectors.  This piece is rich in character, and its appeal is due in equal part to the potter’s fine work and the deeply patinated surface that has developed over the years.

The bowl’s form is attractive and well-balanced, with a wide mouth and a rim that curves inward just slightly.  The bowl’s single design band covers about two thirds of the exterior.  From the top and bottom of the band, semicircles emerge, curving in toward the center.  Pairs of black rain clouds float within these semicircles.  The upper row of semicircles and the lower row are staggered, creating a wavy line in the same rich red as the interior and bottom of the bowl.  Like the bowl itself, the designs are simple and natural, flowing around the exterior smoothly and gracefully.  This is an excellent example of late historic era Zia pottery.

Rosalia Medina Toribio (ca.1858-1950) was the mother of eight children and a potter of extreme talent.  She was photographed by numerous photographers over the years—Matilda Coxe Stevenson in 1887, George Pepper in 1899 and 1900-1901, Edward Curtis in 1925, Wick Miller in 1925-1930, and others.  The 1925 Curtis photograph was included in his monumental publication The North American Indian.  “Curtis admired Rosalia Medina Toribio’s work and echoed Stevenson’s 1887 comments that she was a great potter, mentioning that she ‘is one of the two best potters at Sia, a Pueblo noted for the excellence of its earthenware.” [Harlow and Lanmon 2003:326].  It is from the many photographs of her, with examples of her pottery, that identifying her pottery is facilitated.  

The George Pepper photograph of her was taken during a firing of pottery in which the three bowls visible in the firing are identical to the one presented here.  It is from this photograph that we have made the attribution.

“Rosalia Medina Toribio also made dough bowls.  Zigzag decoration, probably red zigzags on cream-colored slip with black triangles or semicircles along the top and bottom edges, can be seen clearly on three of the four dough bowls that she was photographed firing.  They are of a design that was probably made by several Zia potters, and they are similar to a bowl shown in a doctored photograph of Rosalia Medina Toribio taken by Wick Miller.” [Harlow and Lanmon 2003:325].  Wick Miller was an Indian trader at San Ysidro, New Mexico.

Although there is no way to distinguish such dough bowls made by her from later ones made by other potters, the comparison of the published photograph of her bowls with the bowl pictured above is too similar to overlook.

Condition: excellent condition, with no structural damage, restoration, or repair.

Provenance: this Zia Pueblo Utilitarian Historic Pottery Dough Bowl is from the collection of Susan McGreevy, former director of the Wheelwright Museum in Santa Fe, and author of several books.

Reference: Harlow, Francis H., and Dwight P. Lanmon. The Pottery of Zia Pueblo, SAR Press

Relative Links: Southwest Indian Pottery, Zia Pueblo, Isabel Medina Toribio, Historic Pottery, Rosalie Medina Toribio (ca.1858-1950) Dziyunai'