Santo Domingo Pueblo Polychrome Pitcher with Birds and Flowers

Native American, Santo Domingo (Kewa) Pueblo. A hand-coiled pottery pitcher with a globular body that rises into a tall, slender neck. The neck opens at the top into a lobed, petal-like spout. A long tubular handle curves from the lip down to the shoulder, and it is painted black along its upper edge. The cream slip carries the bold black and brick-red painting typical of the pueblo. Two stylized birds sit low on the body, each with a black head, a round eye, and a red body divided by black lines. Two flowers bloom on the neck and shoulder, each with five pointed red petals around a small white center. Black lines circle the rim and the lower body, and the interior and base are left in the warm red of the fired clay. The vessel was likely made for the growing trade in Pueblo pottery during the second quarter of the 20th C. Santo Domingo, known in its own language as Kewa, lies between Santa Fe and Albuquerque. It is one of the most conservative of the Rio Grande pueblos, and for a long time its potters mostly avoided painting living creatures on the pots they made for their own use. Birds and flowers like the ones here appear most often on pots made for sale to travelers and collectors. Pitchers are a European shape that Pueblo potters reworked in their own clay and painting style, and they became common in the 1920s to 1940s, when the railroad and roadside trade brought a steady stream of buyers to New Mexico. A Certificate of Authenticity will accompany all winning bids. Item # 206097

Estimate:£300.61

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