Cochiti Pueblo Male Storyteller - Drummer Figurine [SOLD]

In this figurine, Seferina Ortiz presents a male storyteller with two children perched on his shoulders and concurrently presents him as a Cochiti drummer.  The male is dressed in a fancy ribbon shirt wearing a bola tie and has a red headband.  Both children are boys.  The drum is a traditional wood and hide drum.

Cochiti Pueblo has a long history of producing figurative pottery. It reached its prime in the last quarter of the 19th century and the first quarter of the 20th century. There was a strong revival in the early 1970s with the production of storyteller figurines. Some potters at Cochiti expanded beyond the traditional storyteller figurines. Seferina Ortiz was one of them. She was one of the most respected potters at Cochiti. She specialized in making figurines—storytellers, nacimientos, and animal and human figures.

This figurine is one of her more unusual storytellers incorporating features of a male drummer as well.

This drummer figurine is published in the book Helen Cordero and the Storytellers of Cochiti Pueblo by Nancy Shroyer Howard.

Condition: original condition

Provenance: from the personal collection of Nancy Shroyer Howard, author of the children's book Helen Cordero and the Storytellers of Cochiti Pueblo, Davis Publications, Worcester. 1995

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