Cochiti Pueblo Vintage Drum with Definitive Use [SOLD]

This small Cochiti Pueblo hand-held drum was made from a local cottonwood tree trunk and painted with blue and red paints.  Both drum heads were painted black. It appears that the trunk was hand adzed to a beautiful rustic finish. A couple of axe marks add to the charm.  An old paper label advertising a hotel was stuck on the side of the drum but it does not appear to be hiding anything underneath.

Spaniards introduced two-headed drums used by the Pueblo Indians of New Mexico over 400 years ago. They are used for ceremonies and rarely for other purposes.

Native drums are generally used during traditional dances at many of the Pueblos located along the Rio Grande and its streams.  The drum has played an intrinsic role in the lives of Native Peoples for centuries. Celebrations and ceremonial dances accompanied by the reverberating pulse of the drum.

Crafted from natural materials over a months-long process, American Indian drums are constructed of a wooden frame, or a carved and hollowed-out log. They can be natural or colorfully painted with solid colors or designs.  Drum bodies are created from native woods of New Mexico such as cottonwood, aspen or pine. Drumheads are usually made from cow, deer, elk, goat, horse or buffalo hide stretched taut across the opening by sinew thongs. Traditionally, Native American drums are two to three feet in diameter.

Condition: this Cochiti Pueblo Vintage Drum with Definitive Use is in very good condition for its age

Provenance: from an extensive Native American collection of a client from Washington, DC

Recommended Reading: Rain: Native Expressions from the American Southwest by Ann Marshall

Relative Links: Pueblo Drums, Cochiti Pueblo