Cochiti Pueblo Mother Turtle Figurine [SOLD]

According to Helen Cordero, a Cochiti legend states that in time of turmoil or trouble, Mother Turtle will come to the pueblo and rescue the children. She demonstrated this in her turtle figurines with children on their backs. As far as I know, she was the first potter to transform this legend into visible art. I recall buying turtle figurines from Helen in the early 1980s, but I don’t know the date that she made the first one.

In this figurine, Mother Turtle has a textile spread over her shell. Three children ride her back, and one barely hangs on to the turtle’s neck.

Condition: The piece is in excellent condition. It is signed in her traditional manner of painting her signature in a rectangular area on the underside as Helen Cordero Cochiti, N Mex.

Provenance:  from a gentleman in Denver, Colorado

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