Native American, southwestern United States, New Mexico, Pueblo II / Pueblo III (Anasazi) period, Tularosa, ca. 875 to 1050 CE. A charming, hand-built pottery vessel in the form of a seated duck with folded wings, painted with elaborate black-on-white decoration. The avian vessel presents a triangular body with a tubular neck, ovoid rim, and sturdy, ribbon-form handle that connects the neck to the body. The surface is decorated with a mesmerizing program of abstract geometric designs including lozenges, triangles, lattice patterns, and stepped motifs. Size: 7.25" L x 7.125" H (18.4 cm x 18.1 cm)

Pottery of this kind is some of the most important found in the ancient Southwest. The Chaco Project, the major excavations of Chaco Canyon (today a National Historical Park that is well worth a visit), recovered more of this pottery than any other style. Chaco was the center of the ancestral Puebloan (Anasazi) culture, a vast city of monumental architecture, including massive stone Great Houses of multiple stories and kivas of all sizes. Roads from Chaco Canyon radiated to outlying settlements for hundreds of miles, and it seems to have been a religious, social, and trade hub for a vast region. Today many Native peoples in the Southwest connect their own histories to Chaco, seeing it as a stop along their sacred migrations.

Provenance: private British Columbia, Canada collection, gifted from aunt in Tucson, Arizona, USA, acquired prior to 1994. Found on William's Ranch, new Mexico

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#182726

Body and rim intact. Stable age crack from rim to just below right "wing. "Handle reattached with restoration where attached. Chip to rim. Paint very fresh and vibrant.