Seferina Ortiz Female Pottery Storyteller with 29 Children [SOLD]

This is absolutely the largest storyteller with the most children that I have seen by Cochiti Pueblo artist Seferina Ortiz. I never knew she made one so large. It was made in the early 1980s. The adult is beautifully dressed in a traditional pueblo manta over a print blouse with lace cuffs. Each of the children is different—different in size and different in dress.  The adult has a warm and happy smile on her perfect face.  She looks like a happy grandmother. The children are wonderful, too.  They are mostly facing forward and appear to be attentive and not distracted.

Seferina Ortiz (1931-2007) is considered one of the matriarchs of the potter population of Cochiti Pueblo.  Not only did she leave a legacy of her pottery, but she also left a legacy in her children—Joyce, Janice, Inez, Virgil, Leon and Angie, some of whom are considered top potters today.

In the first decade following the creation of the storyteller figurine by Helen Cordero, only about eight potters at Cochiti Pueblo were producing such figurines. It was these eight potters that we featured in our first storyteller exhibit in the early 1980s. Among them was Seferina Ortiz. She is one of the earliest potters to make storyteller figurines.

Condition: good condition with minor slip crack on bottom of this figurine

Provenance: this Seferina Ortiz Female Pottery Storyteller with 29 Children is from the estate of a previous client of ours who had impeccable taste and purchased accordingly.

Recommended Reading: CLAY MIRROR From Monos to Storytellers Reflections from Cochiti Pueblo. The Tom & Charlotte Mittler Collection

Relative Links: Laurencita Herrera, Southwest Indian Pottery, Cochiti Pueblo, Seferina Ortiz, figurative pottery