Tesuque Pueblo Pottery Bird Figurine [SOLD]

This bird effigy figurine from Tesuque Pueblo is one of the rare pieces from there. Figurines are not in abundance from Tesuque, except for the well-known rain god figurine. The figure is hollow inside and fashioned in the shape of a bird. It has small eyes painted with red slip, a crown on its head, and small wing and tail feathers protruding from the body. The upper body is polished light tan color, and the lower body is polished natural clay color.

Pottery effigy figurines were made in the southwest by the major prehistoric cultures—the Hohokam, the Mogollon, and the Anasazi, all of which were puebloan predecessors. These figurines were in the form of themselves, their gods, and the animals around them. This procedure continued into today's pueblo culture.

For reasons we may never understand, Cochiti Pueblo has made the most sizable, various, and continuous production of figurines. Other pueblos have made effigy figurines, but not of the quantity or frequency of Cochiti.

Condition: small abrasion around mouth

Provenance: this Tesuque Pueblo Pottery Bird Figurine is from the collection of a client of Adobe Gallery

Recommended Reading: Collections of Southwestern Pottery: Candlesticks to Canteens, Frogs to Figurines by Allan Hayes and John Blom

TAGS: Southwest Indian Pottery Figurines; Tesuque Pueblo, TET-SUGEH