Zuni Pueblo Lidded Ceremonial Jar with Butterflies [SOLD]

The pottery classification “Zuni Polychrome” starts with a date of around 1850 and continues through today.  Polychrome vessels at Zuni have been made in probably the largest quantity of any pueblo and in the greatest variety of any pueblo.  James Stevenson and Frank Hamilton Cushing collected more than 1,000 ceramics at Zuni in 1879 and shipped them off to the Smithsonian.  In 1881, Stephenson again collected more, about 1,800 more, and three years later, another 2,250.  Stevenson’s wife, Matilda Coxe Stevenson, collected rare examples in 1904.  Other museums also collected at Zuni during those times.  Batkin, 1987 [163]

One would expect there not to be any 19^th-century pottery from Zuni available outside museum collections, however, that is not the case.  Zuni potters continued making pottery as fast as the museums were collecting it. Pottery was needed for daily use at the pueblo and for ceremonial functions.  It has been stated that green vegetal paint placed on a jar signifies its use for a ceremonial function.  Once the ceremony is concluded, the jar is no longer considered ceremonial and then becomes a secular vessel. 

This jar is a most unusual one from Zuni, a belief based on scanning images of those collected for the Smithsonian, images of the Stevenson collections provided to me by Vincent Drucker, to whom I am indebted.  There is not one in Stephenson’s images that is similar to this, making it quite unique.  Butterflies are the sole decoration on the body of the vessel.  Their wings were painted with red clay and green vegetal paint then placed over the red, possibly to prepare the jar for use in a ceremony.  Another anomaly is that there were no lidded jars in the published images of the Stevenson’s collection.  Perhaps lidded jars were reserved for ceremonial use and not for daily secular use and perhaps none of those were seen or collected by Stevenson.

This historic example is both a rare and beautiful Zuni anomaly.   The underbody has a slight pedestal and is slipped in red.   It is the kind of historic example prized by collectors who search for the unusual.

Condition: the jar is in excellent condition structurally but some of the red slip on the wings of the butterflies has rubbed off.  There is some abrasion to the painted design on the lid.

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

Provenance: sold at Sotheby’s Auction on an unknown date