Adobe Gallery Blog
Zia Pueblo Polychrome Serving Bowl with Floral Design - C3885A
When we post an item of pottery as Contemporary, we do not mean to indicate that it is new, but that it dates to after 1940. There has been considerable disagreement among scholars, dealers, and collectors about the end of the historic period and the beginning of the contemporary period in pueblo pottery production. Earlier scholars, such as Francis Harlow, set the end of the historic period at 1880 to coincide with the arrival of the intercontinental train to New Mexico and its influence on pottery styles. Others have set the end date of the historic period as 1920s because that was the beginning of the black-on-black pottery and publicity by the Museum of New Mexico on pueblo pottery. Lastly, Jonathan Batkin selected 1940 as the end of the historic period which would set the beginning of the contemporary period at that time.