Polychrome Isleta Pueblo Bowl [SOLD]

There is very little published information on Isleta Pueblo pottery. Before 1900, it was strictly utilitarian ware and was thick walled and undecorated. Few museums or collectors were interested in it; so few examples have been documented.

This bowl from Isleta Pueblo is of the style that developed after the arrival of a group of Laguna Pueblo families who left their native Laguna Pueblo and moved to Isleta Pueblo in 1879 and settled in a village they named Oraibi. They brought the traditional Laguna Pueblo Polychrome pottery style with them, and it eventually replaced the traditional Isleta plain ware that had existed for centuries.

Prior to the arrival of the Laguna colony, the Isleta potters used sand as a tempering agent, resulting in pottery that was thick walled and not of the finest quality. The Laguna potters introduced the Isleta potters to potsherds as a tempering agent, thus resulting in thinner walled, stronger and higher quality wares.

This bowl is well formed and in excellent structural condition. It is thin walled and decorated by a trained hand. There are some scattered areas of spalling, but nothing of significance. The wear is consistent with its age. It most probably dates to the 1910-1920 decades.