Museum Expedition 1904, Museum Collection Fund

Original Culin exhibtion label in inside, number written in ink on body.

Museum Expedition 1907, Museum Collection Fund

NATIVE AMERICAN PUEBLO POTTERY
Pottery making was practiced in the southwestern United States for at least two thousand years. Zuni and Cochiti potters created the three vessels here: two water jars and one drum jar, which would have had a hide stretched over the top for beating with drumsticks. Historically, women were the potters, collecting their own clays, coiling and finishing each pot by hand, and firing the pieces in open fires.

Pots were often traded and exchanged between pueblos, so that new ideas were constantly being generated. During the 1880s the advent of the railroad brought an influx of trading posts and tourists into the Southwest and entrepreneurial potters began selling to the non-Native market. Today, both male and female potters continue to form traditional works as well as generate exciting new forms of Pueblo pottery.

Museum Expedition 1938, Dick S. Ramsay Fund

Museum Expedition 1938, Dick S. Ramsay Fund

Museum Expedition 1938, Dick S. Ramsay Fund

Water jar with a prominent mid-body bulge and scalloped rim. Underbody is slipped red and separated visually from the body by two fine, dark brown lines. Mid-body and neck have sinuous leaf and parallelogram designs in dark brown on a white ground. The scalloped rim is dark brown. Inside neck is slipped orange, the rest is unslipped revealing a whitish body. White writing on side reads "2467," sticker on base reads "02.257.2467." Condition: Culin card says "broken." Breaks in large part of shoulder and neck have been repaired. This section is considerably dirtier than the rest. Slight paint losses and surface abrasions on the body.

This large, classic water jar is in the high shoulder form. The design is brown abstracted forms on white slip, possibly many paired rainbirds.The rim shows evidence of the jar being used as some of the paint has worn off . Often these jars would have hide coverings stretched over them to keep the water pure and cool. Red writing on base reads "X764." Condition: Surface loss on neck

This water jar was purchased from the trader Vanderwagon in 1903. This is an example of Ashiwi Polychrome, a style that is ancestral to Zuni Polychrome. The upper portion of the vessel is decorated with a diagonal sweep of red and black feathers alternating with geometic designs.