Cochiti Pueblo Vintage Drum with Decorated Drum Heads [SOLD]

This Cochiti Pueblo drum appears to have been made from an old and gnarled cottonwood trunk as there are irregularities in the wood that appear to have been there originally.  The drum was painted in colors green , pink, white, black and yellow. There is an attached handle. One drum head was outlined in green paint with a black line separating the green from the unpainted center.  What appears to be a yellow butterfly was painted on one drum head. The other drum head had a circle in the center from which are four tablita style elements in the four directions which are separated by groups of feathers.  This was apparently the bottom drum head and most of the design has worn off. The drum head skin that overlaps on the side walls were painted black. This is surely a drum that saw extensive use.

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 are 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.

Condition: this Cochiti Pueblo Vintage Drum with Decorated Drum Heads is in good condition with some distress to wood and paint abrasions as to be expected in a used object of this 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