Brooklyn Museum: Arts of the Americas: Ashiwi Polychrome Water Jar

Ashiwi Polychrome Water Jar

Stewart Culin, the Brooklyn Museum's first ethnological curator, collected this eighteenth-century example of Zuni pottery in 1903. It was one the twelve pots originally deposited in the Zuni Siathosa shrine, but all were removed and the in the hands of various dealers or collectors when Culin visited the Southwest. It is painted in a style known as Ashiwi Polychrome. The diagonal sweeping of red and black feathers alternating with geometric designs is a forerunner of geometric designs that are used by Zuni potters today.

Culture: Pueblo, Zuni, Native American
Medium: Pottery, slip
Place Collected: Siatosha Shrine, Zuni, Towoyalnai Mountain, New Mexico, USA
Dates: 1700-1750
Dimensions: 11 1/4 x 13 1/4 x 13 1/4 in. (28.6 x 33.7 x 33.7 cm)
Collections: Arts of the Americas
Museum Location: This item is on view in American Identities: A New Look, 5th floor
Accession Number: 03.325.4739
Credit Line: Museum Expedition 1903, Museum Collection Fund
Image: Overall, 03.325.4739_SL1.jpg. Brooklyn Museum photograph

Catalogue Description: This water jar was purchased from the trader Vanderwagon in 1903. This is an example of Ashiwi Polychrome, a style that is ancestral to Zuni Polychrome. The upper portion of the vessel is decorated with a diagonal sweep of red and black feathers alternating with geometic designs.

Collections: Arts of the Americas: Ashiwi Polychrome Water Jar