A:shiwi (Zuni Pueblo). <em>Water Jar (Tai-lai)</em>, 1868–1933. Ceramic, pigment, 12 × 15 × 15 in. (30.5 × 38.1 × 38.1 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Museum Expedition 1904, Museum Collection Fund, 04.297.5249. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, CUR.04.297.5249.jpg)

A:shiwi (Zuni Pueblo). Water Jar (Tai-lai), 1868–1933. Ceramic, pigment, 12 × 15 × 15 in. (30.5 × 38.1 × 38.1 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Museum Expedition 1904, Museum Collection Fund, 04.297.5249. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, CUR.04.297.5249.jpg)

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Why did the curator put these objects together?

The views shared by many Americans around the centennial towards Native Americans people, contrasted with actual works made by Natives, are being highlighted here. Many people regarded natives as "Noble Savages" that were disappearing and wanted to capture and preserve that legacy.

In actuality, Native American culture was alive and well. Some people continued to lived in traditional ways on tribal lands and others moved into cities and lived like "typical Americans."

Thank you!

You're welcome! You'll notice that many of the works in this room date to the 1870s. 1876 was the United States' Centennial celebration so it was a time of reflection -- what was America all about? How was national identity represented in visual art?

Water Jar (Tai-lai)

Arts of the Americas

On View: Luce Visible Storage and Study Center, 5th Floor

NATIVE AMERICAN PUEBLO POTTERY
Pottery making was practiced in the southwestern United States for at least two thousand years. Zuni and Cochiti potters created the three vessels here: two water jars and one drum jar, which would have had a hide stretched over the top for beating with drumsticks. Historically, women were the potters, collecting their own clays, coiling and finishing each pot by hand, and firing the pieces in open fires.

Pots were often traded and exchanged between pueblos, so that new ideas were constantly being generated. During the 1880s the advent of the railroad brought an influx of trading posts and tourists into the Southwest and entrepreneurial potters began selling to the non-Native market. Today, both male and female potters continue to form traditional works as well as generate exciting new forms of Pueblo pottery.

CULTURE A:shiwi (Zuni Pueblo)

MEDIUM Ceramic, pigment

DATES 1868–1933

DIMENSIONS 12 × 15 × 15 in. (30.5 × 38.1 × 38.1 cm) (show scale)

COLLECTIONS Arts of the Americas

ACCESSION NUMBER 04.297.5249

CREDIT LINE Museum Expedition 1904, Museum Collection Fund

CATALOGUE DESCRIPTION Water jar with painted exterior, red and black on white, and plain interior. The design is divided into three zones. The top area above the shoulder has an abstracted design of swirls and florets infilled with lines. The body of the jar has vignettes of six deer with heart lines positioned inside individual arches, normally, each referred to as the "house." Then there is a band of scrolls. The basal zone has five deer inside the arches.

EXHIBITIONS

MUSEUM LOCATION This item is on view in Luce Visible Storage and Study Center, 5th Floor

CAPTION A:shiwi (Zuni Pueblo). Water Jar (Tai-lai), 1868–1933. Ceramic, pigment, 12 × 15 × 15 in. (30.5 × 38.1 × 38.1 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Museum Expedition 1904, Museum Collection Fund, 04.297.5249. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, CUR.04.297.5249.jpg)

IMAGE overall, CUR.04.297.5249.jpg. Brooklyn Museum photograph, 2024

"CUR" at the beginning of an image file name means that the image was created by a curatorial staff member. These study images may be digital point-and-shoot photographs, when we don\'t yet have high-quality studio photography, or they may be scans of older negatives, slides, or photographic prints, providing historical documentation of the object.

RIGHTS STATEMENT 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.

RECORD COMPLETENESS

Not every record you will find here is complete. More information is available for some works than for others, and some entries have been updated more recently. Records are frequently reviewed and revised, and we welcome any additional information you might have.

Download our app and ask your own questions during your visit. Here are some that others have asked.

Why did the curator put these objects together?

In actuality, Native American culture was alive and well. Some people continued to lived in traditional ways on tribal lands and others moved into cities and lived like "typical Americans."

Thank you!