Pecos Pueblo Revival Glaze Ware Small Pottery Bowl by Evelyn Vigil of Jemez Pueblo [SOLD]

Evelyn Vigil is a direct descendant of the 38 people from Pecos Pueblo who moved in 1828 to Jemez Pueblo. She deserves much credit for her productive efforts in the 1970s and 1980s promoting a revival of Pecos glazeware.

Pecos Pueblo was located in the Glorieta Pass about 25 miles east of Santa Fe. It was a thriving pueblo that declined almost to the point of extinction. In 1838, the remaining 17 members of the pueblo moved to the other Towa-speaking village—Jemez Pueblo. With all their personal belongings and their sacred objects, they melded into Jemez on a permanent basis.

Pecos Pueblo potters had produced beautiful pottery decorated with glaze material. The technique was lost following the demise of the pueblo in the early 1800s. A volunteer at Pecos National Monument became interested in locating the clay and glaze used by the Pecos potters, so around 1975, she began a systematic search. To experiment with the various clays and tempers she discovered, she elicited the help of an outstanding Jemez Pueblo potter—Evelyn Vigil (1921-1995)—to experiment and see which ones were likely the correct ones. For five years, Evelyn experimented and finally achieved positive results.

This small bowl is one of her finished products. The interior design is probably a bird. The exterior designs around the bowl are definitely birds. The bowl is signed EMV Pecos. 

Condition: this Pecos Pueblo Revival Glaze Ware Small Pottery Bowl by Evelyn Vigil of Jemez Pueblo is in excellent condition.

Provenance: originally from a client in Santa Fe, now from the client to whom we sold it in 2009.

Recommended Reading: Solving the Pecos Pottery Mystery by Sheila Tryk. New Mexico Magazine. Vol. 57, No. 7, July 1979. 

Relative Links: Southwest Indian Pottery, Evelyn Vigil, Jemez Pueblo, Contemporary Pottery