Chile Serving Bowl from Kewa Pueblo [SOLD]

Chile bowls have their start in life as any other pottery bowl—that is they have a clay bottom formed in a puki and side walls that grow upward one coil at a time.  Their walls are scraped and sanded and eventually painted with a design of the choice of the potter or a design fostered by tradition.  The best view of a bowl is from the side at a slight angle so one can appreciate the decorated exterior and have a glimpse of the interior below the rim.  The interior of a utilitarian bowl is not decorated but the patina developed over years or decades of use is worth viewing.

Bowls are hemispherical, as if looking at the southern half of the world. In a sense, the bowl does represent the earth and the missing upper half of the sphere represents the sky.  Food served in the bowl is a representation of having come from the earth.  We, as outsiders, appreciate the beauty of a bowl from an esthetic view, but do not understand, and never will understand, the sacred concepts of the bowl to the pueblo people.  Perhaps appreciating the beauty is sufficient for our needs.

This bowl, like many chile bowls, is decorated on the exterior with black painted designs that face back-to-back and would overlay one another if one was flipped over the other as if turning the page of a book.  The interior is a beautiful cream color, stone-polished, highly burnished finish that says it was used in service.  The rim is painted black and features a ceremonial line break.  There is a single black framing line at the rim and a pair of them below the design. The ceremonial line break at the rim continues on through the framing lines and design panel.

The underside of the bowl is polished red clay.  Initials P.C.R. are carved into the clay on the red lower body and a paper label attached to the base defines those as belonging to Pablo Reyna of Santo Domingo, along with a date of 1962.

Condition: very good condition

Recommended Reading:  A River Apart: The Pottery of Cochiti & Santo Domingo Pueblos, edited by Valerie K. Verzuh

Provenance: from the extensive collection of a Santa Fe resident who is unfortunately moving to another city and found it necessary to greatly reduce her collection.