Cochiti Pueblo Female Storyteller with 3 Girls, all wearing Tabletas [SOLD]

This seated female storyteller figurine with her eyes closed and her mouth open is beautifully dressed in a highly-decorated blouse over which she wears the traditional pueblo dress.   She has a tableta on her head and is wearing high-top moccasins.  Her dress is covered at the waist with a belt.  Each of the three little girls is similarly dressed and each has her eyes closed and mouth open in the same manner as the adult.

Louis (1932-1997) and Virginia Naranjo (b.1932) were standard bearers for the proud figurative pottery tradition of Cochiti Pueblo. They crafted their figurines at the kitchen table in their comfortable adobe home at the pueblo. They worked almost every day crafting their art with great care, joking and exchanging the gossip of the day as they went along, accompanied by television, children and grandchildren. Their art provided a good life for them and it provided a legacy that will be with us for another century or more.

The storyteller is co-signed by Louis and Virginia and dated 1996.

Condition: very good condition overall.  The tip of the tableta on the little girl sitting on the right was broken off and has been professionally repaired.

Recommended Reading: The Pueblo Storyteller: Development of a Figurative Ceramic Tradition by Barbara Babcock

Provenance: from the collection of a family from California