Acoma Pueblo Polychrome Wedding Vase with Documentation [SOLD]

The famous Route 66 highway was a financial blessing in the 1930s for Acoma and Laguna Pueblo artisans who found it worthwhile to set up tables on the roadside to sell their wares to tourists traveling between Chicago and Los Angeles.  They also sold pottery to merchants in the area, one of whom was Abdoo H. Fidel (1880-1947), a Lebanese immigrant, who set up a curio shop in San Fidel, only a few miles from Acoma Pueblo.  A 1934 photograph of his shop showed over 500 Acoma pottery items on shelves, stacked atop each other, and scattered all over the floor.  He obviously was a major buyer from the potters, having purchased thousands of potteries from them during the years he operated his curio shop.

Sales for the wares of Acoma potters and for Mr. Fidel were going well until the 1930s national depression hit, then the beginning of the war, gasoline rationing, and travel restrictions, all caused a complete loss of business for everyone.  Mr. Fidel closed his shop in the early 1940s.  Acoma potters continued making pottery for their own use but sales were minimal.

This Acoma wedding vase bears a circular stamp on the base that reads “GENUINE ACOMA INDIAN POTTERY, A. H. FIDEL, WHOLESALE, SAN FIDEL, NEW MEX.”  Written in ink, partially obscuring the stamped information, is “Mr. J. Johnson, Acoma, New Mex.”  It is likely that this is the name of the man from whom Fidel purchased the wedding vase.  It is possible that his wife was Juanita Johnson and she made this vase.

The wedding vase is beautifully decorated with a bold design of a four-direction cross with black and white checkboard at its center and feathers at the ends.  This design is echoed with an outline of black fine lines and a secondary outline of solid black.  The side of the vase has an orange square enclosing orange triangles and black triangles.  The bottom is painted in the traditional orange slip. The arched handle is comprised of braided clay, a style I have never before seen.  The wedding vase dates to circa 1930s.

Condition: very good condition

Provenance: from the collection of a Colorado family

Recommended Reading:  The Pottery of Acoma Pueblo by Harlow and Lanmon