Cochiti Pueblo Vintage Drum with Significant Age [SOLD]

This small Cochiti Pueblo hand-held drum was made from a local cottonwood tree trunk and painted with blue and pink as the primary colors and white and red as minor colors.  Each drum head was painted black.  

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.

There are a few condition problems but fortunately they are all on the same side of the drum so there is a good side remaining.  The wood has a couple holes, two of which are all the way through the wood and one which is only partially into the wood. One of the holes was cleverly covered with a piece of paper which was painted to match the drum colors.  Two of the lacing strips are broken but they are next to each other and on the same side of the drum as the holes.

This drum has a very pleasing appearance, is large and impressive so the damage should be accepted as a part of the history of a wonderful old drum that saw much use.

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 Significant Age is as described above

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