Isleta Pueblo Traditional Plainware Dough Bowl [SOLD]

Before the arrival of a contingent of families from Laguna Pueblo in the 1870s, Isleta pottery was simple, elegant and undecorated except for beautiful fire clouds.  After the Laguna potters settled in at their new home, they introduced Laguna-style polychrome decorated wares at Isleta and that style eventually came to be known as Isleta pottery.

Isleta pre-1900 pottery was made from tan earth-color clay over which was applied red slip that was then stone polished.  Sand was used as temper.  The potters who were traditionalists at Isleta did not switch over and start making the Laguna-style pottery.  Those older potters continued making their traditional wares as late as the 1920s.  Traditional Isleta redware pottery was embellished with a wide red band on the exterior wall at the rim of the jar.  In this jar, the exterior red band measures about 2-1/2 inches wide.  On the interior, there is also a red band at the rim which measures ½ inch wide.

Bowls such as this Isleta Pueblo Traditional Plainware Dough Bowl are used during Feast Days to take food to the plaza for the ceremony.  To make sure the bowl is returned to the rightful owner, initials of the owner are painted on the bowl.  This bowl has the initials L.C.A. on the underside.  There was a potter at Isleta by the name of Lupe Anselmo who was active in the 1910s-1920s.  Elsie Clews Parsons, in the 47^th Annual Report of the BAE, stated that Lupe Anselmo was the most talented native Isleta potter of the 1920s.  Perhaps this was one she made or owned.

At one time, the initials, which appear to be M.L. were printed in dark green paint on the wall of the bowl but they have mostly worn off.  There was a potter at Isleta in the 1920s by the name of Maria Lente who was known for making dough bowls, but she specialized in the Polychrome style.  She still could have owned this bowl even if a family member may have made it.

Condition: the bowl is in remarkable condition, evidencing pueblo use but not sufficient wear.

Provenance:  sold by Adobe Gallery in 2002 to a client from whom we have received it for re-sale.

Recommended Reading: Pottery of the Pueblos of New Mexico 1700-1940 by Jonathan Batkin