1991.336.FA Storage jar (Arizona, Ancestral Pueblo (Anasazi))

The Ancestral Pueblo (Anasazi) culture, forerunner to modern Pueblo peoples, developed some 2,000 years ago in northern New Mexico and the Four Corners area, where Utah, Colorado, Arizona, and New Mexico meet. This vessel features a red background and interlocking hatched and solid figures. Although Ancestral Pueblo painting is generally nonfigurative, occasionally, as here, the judicious placement of the dotted circle turns the stepped spiral into the head of a bird with a long, curving beak.

Bonnie Pitman, ed., "Storage jar (1991.336.FA)," in Dallas Museum of Art: A Guide to the Collection (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2012), 54.

Anasazi (Ancestral Puebloan): AAT: 300016954

Ancestral Puebloan (Anasazi): AAT: 300016954

Southwestern North American styles (Pre-Columbian): AAT: 300016920

Arizona (state): TGN: 7006451

Southwest (general region): TGN: 4010660

ceramic (material): AAT: 300235507

clay: AAT: 300010439

paint (coating): AAT: 300015029

slip (clay): AAT: 300010459

slip glaze: AAT: 300015110

glazing (coating): AAT: 300053914

incising: AAT: 300053847

burnishing (polishing): AAT: 30053869

coiling (pottery technique): AAT: 300053903

modeling (forming): AAT: 300053130

firing (technique): AAT: 300053887

carbon (inorganic material): AAT: 300264720

iron oxide red (pigment): AAT: 300013537

kilns (ovens / heating equipment): AAT: 300022798

carbon paint (coating): DMA

black carbon ink: AAT: 300081180

White Mountain Red Ware (ceramic type / Southwestern North American style): DMA

Wingate Black-on-red type (ceramic type / Southwestern North American style): DMA

White Mountain (peak): TGN: 2766342

Fort Wingate (inhabited place): TGN: 2066968

vessels (containers): AAT: 300193015

jars (vessels): AAT: 300195347

storage containers: AAT: 300197582

black (color): AAT: 300130920

red (color): AAAT: 300126225

geometric motifs: AAT: 300009764

zigzags (geometric patterns): AAT: 300165028

spirals (geometric figures): AAT: 300163114

animals: DMA

birds (animals): AAT: 300266506

birds (motifs): AAT: 300375751

Until 1991: Private collection, Dallas [1], [2]

From 1991: Dallas Museum of Art, Foundation for the Arts Collection, anonymous gift [1], [2], [3]

[1] The main source for this provenance is Acquisition Record (dated December 05, 1991, copy in Dallas Museum of Art Collections Records Object File, Confidential). Exceptions and other supporting documents are noted.

[2] See Collections Records Digital Object File.

[3] The Foundation for the Arts is a non-profit corporation created as a title-holding entity to serve the people of Dallas but to operate independently of the City. The Dallas Museum of Art (at its own cost) is responsible for the care, storage, insurance, conservation and maintenance of the collection, and agrees to maintain the highest museum standards in the management and handling of the Foundation’s collection. The title to all works of art purchased or otherwise acquired by the Foundation for the Arts is retained by the Foundation.

Named on "American Indian and Northwest Coast Top Ten List" (August 6, 1992), Steven A. LeBlanc, former curator at the Southwest Museum at Los Angeles.

Although this vessel shows cracks and wear, the quality of its painted surface and design composition make it a great example of prehistoric Southwestern ceramic art. Thick black carbon paint was applied to its highly burnished red iron oxide slipped surface. The pattern of solid black fringed or stepped spirals interlocking with fine-line hatched spirals is traditional to White Mountain Red Ware decoration. The pot also features triangles and dotted circle motifs.

This jar comes from the Anasazi peoples. The Anasazi were an ancient Native American culture that inhabited the Southwestern United States. They created pottery that they buried with their dead or used for cooking and for storing water and food. When the Spanish settled in the Southwest beginning in the seventeenth century, traditional burials were ended by church authorities. However, since that time, the styles and techniques of Anasazi pottery have continued to develop through the Pueblo Indians who trace their culture back to the Anasazi.

To make pottery, the Anasazi mixed wet balls of clay with crushed pottery, sand, or rock. Then, potters rolled these balls of clay into long, thin coils that were laid one on top of the other on a preformed base. The coils were then smoothed down to seal the walls of the pot. Then, the clay was left out to dry and fired in an outdoor kiln. Paint was later applied to fired vessels.

Pottery is an important cultural tradition to the native peoples of the American Southwest. The earliest pottery in the region dates back to 2500 BC. This jar dates between 1125 and 1200 AD. It is known as a Wingate Black-on-Red Jar. Wingate bowls and jars are early White Mountain Red Wares and were popular items for trade among the Anasazi. They were often used as offerings in outdoor shrines and have been found stored in caves or other remote locations throughout the Anasazi region.

Anasazi cultural practices, such as burying the dead with pots, were largely banned after the Spanish settlement of the American Southwest in the seventeenth century. However, Pueblo potters who descended from the Anasazi continued to make utilitarian pots using traditional motifs and patterns under Spanish and American rule. After the transcontinental railroad reached New Mexico in 1880, Pueblo potters began to make their work available for commercial sale and local use. Fueled by the belief that Pueblo culture was disappearing, ethnologists and anthropologists descended on the region greatly increasing the commercial value of Pueblo pottery and making it widely available for study. Today, many pueblos have been converted into Pueblo cultural centers or tourist sites, and Pueblo potters continue to develop the practices followed by their ancestors.

The Anasazi were an ancient Native American culture that inhabited what is known as the Four Corners region of the United States. This area encompasses parts of Utah, Colorado, New Mexico, and Arizona.

The Anasazi are sometimes referred to as the Ancient Pueblo Peoples. The word Anasazi means “the ancients” in the Hopi language. Pueblo, the Spanish word for “town,” is the name most often used for homes built by the Anasazi. These homes were built adjacent to cliff faces, and long ladders were often required to reach their entrances. Pueblo also refers to the contemporary Native American group in the Southwest that traces their roots back to the Anasazi.

Reference Books:

Brody, J.J. The Anasazi: Ancient Indian People of the American Southwest. New York: Rizzoli, 1990.

Dallas Museum of Art: A Guide to the Collection. Dallas, 1997.

Ferguson, William M. The Anasazi of Mesa Verde and the Four Corners. Niwot, Colo.: University Press of Colorado, 1996.

Peckham, Stewart. From This Earth: The Ancient Art of Pueblo Pottery. Santa Fe, New Mexico: Museum of New Mexico Press, 1990.

Penney, David W. Native American Art. New York: Hugh Lauter Levin, Associates, Inc. 1994.

Books for Students:

Bishop, Amanda and Bobbie Kalman. Life in a Pueblo (Native Nations of North America). New York: Crabtree Publishing Company, 2003.

Flanagan, Alice K. The Pueblos (True Books: American Indians) . Hartford: Children’s Press, 1998.

McDermott, Gerald. Arrow to the Sun: A Pueblo Indian Tale. New York: Puffin, 1977.

This document discusses cultural sensitivity when talking about Native Americans.

These teaching materials discuss Native American cultures by region throughout North America.

This website offers resources on and information about a variety of Native American cultures.

This website discusses the cultures in the Colorado Plateau region of the Southwest.

This website discusses a number of different Native American cultures.

These teaching materials are designed for fourth grade audiences.

"Storage jar (1991.336.FA)," DMA Connect, Dallas Museum of Art, 2012 (accessed 13 March 2015).

Apply to objects where number equals 1991.336.FA