Native American, Southwestern USA, Colorado, Anasazi/Ancestral Puebloans, Pueblo IV, ca. 1350 to 1600 CE. A fine example of a pottery mug made in the Mesa Verde Black-on-White tradition in what is today southwestern Colorado. The ancient vessel presents a tapering cylinder body with a narrow neck, flared rim, and a wide strap handle extending from just below the rim to the flat base. An intricately painted checkered pattern adorns the exterior of the vessel with 3 vertical striations at the center and 4 more on each side, while a rectangular motif of horizontal lines embellishes the handle, and a design of dashed lines decorates the top of the rim. Size: 4.6" W x 4.1" H (11.7 cm x 10.4 cm)

Vessels from this tradition were made from a gray or white clay with angular fragments of temper and this one has a pearly gray-white slip that was then overpainted with a black pigment made from carbon. Largely, these were made by women who lived in cliff dwellings like those seen at Mesa Verde National Park - indeed at the Park, there is a large house containing 94 rooms, a kiva, and a water reservoir, known as Mug House because its European discoverers, Charles Mason and the Wetherill brothers, found three mugs hung in one of the rooms from a rope of woven yucca.

Provenance: private Eagle, Colorado, USA collection, acquired in the 1990s

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#168257

Repair to handle with restoration over break lines. Stable hairline fissure and light resurfacing to base. A few minor nicks, commensurate with age. Otherwise, excellent with impressive preservation of pigments.