Santa Ana Polychrome Canteen 1850 - Wade Collection

Description

Santa Ana Polychrome Canteen c. 1850

Dr Wade Comments

Among the rarest of historic Pueblo ceramics is Santa Ana Polychrome ( c. 1750 – 1890 ) and within that tradition the rarest ceramic form is decorative canteens and the rarest decorative style is figurative. All of which characterize this vessel. In other words, the canteen pictured above is the rarest of the rare of the rare. Quite impressive. 

Visually the slip, painting, and sculptural form appears to be that of Zia however, there is one distinctive trait that confirms it’s Santa Ana origin, sand tempering.

Prior to the mid 18^th century the ancestral village of Santa Ana was in close proximity to Zia and their pottery was essentially indistinguishable, including the use of black basalt as a tempering agent. When they constructed their new village in the more fertile lands near the Spanish community of Bernalillo, lacking Basalt they turned to sand in their pottery production. 

The open design field and asymmetry of the composition is individualistic in its execution with floral sprays and a lone red deer. Yet, the form of the deer is an indicator of the age of this canteen since it is modeled on the bony structure of the animal as was common to petroglyphic rock carvings rather than the meaty more naturalistic body forms of the 1880’s and onwards. 

Even though diminutive in size it shows elements of native wear as with the rounded chips to the rim and abrasion marks. A very pleasant and unique glimpse into a lost painterly tradition. 

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Sedona Wolf Comments

Zuni Fetish Carving Collectors

This would be a wonderful addition to any Southwest Art / Craft Collection.  This pot clearly is a canteen... and probably was used, long ago, to carry water.
Viewed from another perspective, the Cantine is a Turtle. 

Turtles bring long life... as this pot most certainly did. A fitting image for such a beautiful canteen.

It measures 6 1/2" from end to end and is 4 1/2" tall.