Special Value Offer: Historic Cochiti Pueblo Effigy Vessel with Bird Head [R]

Special Value Offer: the consignor of this effigy vessel has authorized a 30% price reduction from the original price of $2200 to a new price of $1540.

The 19^th century was one that must have seemed overwhelming for New Mexico’s Pueblo Indians. The Santa Fe Trail from Missouri to Santa Fe opened in 1821 bringing traders and trade materials unfamiliar to the Natives. At that time, New Mexico was part of Mexico. It was not until 1848 that it became a part of the United States. As a part of Mexico, the Natives were inundated with former Spaniards traveling the Camino Real from Mexico City to Santa Fe, again bringing in trade goods of unfamiliar properties.

As a territory of the United States, the Natives found that rules and regulations, under which they were controlled, switched first from the King of Spain, then to the Mexican government and finally to the government of the United States. Following all these changes came another one—the arrival of the train in 1880.

The potters at Cochiti Pueblo reacted to these invasions in a most intriguing manner. From about 1870 to 1920, they made pottery figurines in mockery of the new invaders. As they were exposed to Spanish merchants, carnival workers, entertainment groups and vaqueros, they began to fashion figurines of them. The Santa Fe merchants aggressively marketed these with some success, but unfortunately they were considered “tourist items” and were shunned by museums. Very few ended up in museum collections at that time. Fortunately, collectors appreciated the humor and collected them. Otherwise, we would not have any of these wonderful pieces today.

It looks like this figurine is that of a bird. It's sometimes difficult to determine an exact animal that the potter had in mind and is often open to interpretation. We are going to say “Bird” on this one because of several attributes: wings in the front of the figurine with cascading feathers on the side with a streamlined tail in the back. Its head has noticeable feathers around the ears and a ridge at the top. What do you think? This figurine also has an old label that was added many years ago and has become part of the history; it says “INDIAN OLLAS OR WATER JUG.”

Provenance: ex. coll. Indiana collector of Native American pottery