Cochiti Pueblo Female Storyteller Figurine with Three Children [SOLD]

Mary and Leonard Trujillo are among the premier figurine potters at Cochiti Pueblo. Very few potters attempt large figurines anymore, but the Trujillos do and they do a fine job at it. Mary learned to make storytellers from Helen Cordero, her mother-in-law. Mary is one of the most accomplished potters at Cochiti. Leonard, her husband, has helped Mary since the 1980s.

This seated female storyteller is busily telling a story to the kids sitting on her lap. Her mouth is open and eyes closed. The kids all have smiles on their faces, so the story must be amusing.  The female is wearing a flower-print dress and a shawl draped over her head.  She is wearing traditional white leather moccasins.  It is signed on the underneath Mary & Leonard Trujillo Cochiti.

The figurine is comprised of all native clay from the Cochiti area, slipped in the creamy white Kewa (Santo Domingo) slip that all the Cochiti potters use, and decorated with black paint derived from the bee plant, and red slip derived from the clay of La Bajada. It was fired in the traditional outdoor firing technique.

Condition: this is an older figurine and probably dates to the 1990s.  It is in very good condition with only a small abrasion to the paint on the adult's right arm.

Provenance: from a New Mexico family

Recommended Reading:  The Pueblo Storyteller by Barbara Babcock