Vase, Chief Shavehead
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Object Label
Rookwood Pottery Company introduced Indian figural decoration in the mid-1880s, when white Americans became increasingly aware of the plight of the Native American peoples. Artists romanticized an idyllic past when Indians lived in harmony with nature and were often inspired by contemporary photography of Native Americans. Vases with Indian figures are among the pieces most prized by Rookwood collectors today.
Caption
Grace Young American, 1869–1947; Rookwood Pottery Company 1880–1967. Vase, Chief Shavehead, ca. 1899. Earthenware, 15 1/2 × 6 × 6 in. (39.4 × 15.2 × 15.2 cm) mount: 15 1/2 × 6 × 6 in. (39.4 × 15.2 × 15.2 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Jay Lewis, 84.176.4. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 84.176.4_bw.jpg)
Gallery
Not on view
Collection
Gallery
Not on view
Collection
Decorator
Title
Vase, Chief Shavehead
Date
ca. 1899
Geography
Place manufactured: Cincinnati, Ohio, United States
Medium
Earthenware
Classification
Dimensions
15 1/2 × 6 × 6 in. (39.4 × 15.2 × 15.2 cm) mount: 15 1/2 × 6 × 6 in. (39.4 × 15.2 × 15.2 cm)
Signatures
no signature
Inscriptions
no inscriptions
Markings
Impressed on bottom: "[stamp consisting of reversed 'RP' monogram surrounded by 13 flames] / 856 / B" Incised by hand on bottom, in script: "- Shavehead - / - Arapahoe - "
Credit Line
Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Jay Lewis
Accession Number
84.176.4
Rights
Creative Commons-BY
You may download and use Brooklyn Museum images of this three-dimensional work in accordance with a Creative Commons license. Fair use, as understood under the United States Copyright Act, may also apply. Please include caption information from this page and credit the Brooklyn Museum. If you need a high resolution file, please fill out our online application form (charges apply). For further information about copyright, we recommend resources at the United States Library of Congress, Cornell University, Copyright and Cultural Institutions: Guidelines for U.S. Libraries, Archives, and Museums, and Copyright Watch. For more information about the Museum's rights project, including how rights types are assigned, please see our blog posts on copyright. If you have any information regarding this work and rights to it, please contact copyright@brooklynmuseum.org.
Frequent Art Questions
This is epic.
I agree, that's a really striking piece. Several works in that room show American artists' (and audiences') interest in Native American art and identity.Rookwood Pottery was a major American ceramics company of the late 1800s and early 1900s. They produced a series of works decorated with images of Native Americans around the turn of the century. Rookwood's artists used photographs of Native American individuals as source material and they copied the photos to create these decorations.
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