Female Storyteller with Tableta and Two Female Children [SOLD]

Helen Cordero created the storyteller figurine in 1964 as a tribute to her grandfather and, as a result, she only made male storyteller figurines.  Other Cochiti potters have made female figurines and it has become accepted to refer to them as storytellers. Helen commented that the other potters did not understand that it should be a male because of whom it honored.

This seated female storyteller figurine with her eyes closed and her mouth open is beautifully dressed in a decorated blouse over which she wears the traditional pueblo dress.  She has a tableta on her head and is wearing high-top moccasins. Her dress is covered at the waist with a belt. She is wearing a bracelet on each wrist. I believe that Louis Naranjo (1932-1997) was the first potter to place a tableta on his female figurines.

On each of her shoulders sits a young girl.  Each of the girls is dressed in a decorated blouse  and each wears a traditional pueblo dress. Each also wears a tableta. The figurine is signed Louis Naranjo Cochiti, N.M.  Some of Louis and Virginia Naranjo figurines are signed with both names, some only with Louis’s name and some only with Virginia’s name.  I have not determined why the difference. We know they worked together on all the figurines, so perhaps one person was running errands when it was time to fire the pottery, so the other one signed it.

Condition: this Cochiti Pueblo Seated Female Storyteller with Tableta and Children is in original condition
Provenance: from the Southwest Indian Pottery collection of a client from Albuquerque who provided us with over 100 storyteller figurines two years ago for an exhibit.
Recommended Reading:  The Pueblo Storyteller: Development of a Figurative Ceramic Tradition by Barbara Babcock