Pitcher with Black on White Geometric Designs

Ancestral Pueblo

1 of 2

Object Label

Ancient Pueblo (Anasazi) Pottery: A Spectrum of Black and White

Puebloan people excelled at creating an immense variety of pottery using only black and white. This color scheme was partly dictated by the nature of the clay and the mineral or plant paints available. Archaeologists surmise that cross-hatched designs like the one on this bowl may have represented the color turquoise—reflecting the precious stone and the color of water, a sacred commodity in the dry Southwest region.

Caption

Ancestral Pueblo. Pitcher with Black on White Geometric Designs, 900–1300. Ceramic, pigment, 7 x 5 x 5 in. (17.8 x 12.7 x 12.7 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Gift of Charles A. Schieren, 01.1538.1756. Creative Commons-BY

Gallery

Not on view

Title

Pitcher with Black on White Geometric Designs

Date

900–1300

Medium

Ceramic, pigment

Classification

Food/Drink

Dimensions

7 x 5 x 5 in. (17.8 x 12.7 x 12.7 cm)

Credit Line

Gift of Charles A. Schieren

Accession Number

01.1538.1756

Rights

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.

Frequent Art Questions

  • Do we know if these are functional or mainly ceremonial?

    In Pueblo culture, the deceased were often buried with the objects that they used and owned in their daily lives.
    There are theories that the bowl may have been used only during ceremonies, but ultimately it did function as an utilitarian object. I love the black and white geometric patterns!
  • Can you tell me about the 1903 museum expedition where this was collected? Did Brooklyn Museum do digs in pueblos or how did they acquire these?

    Stewart Culin, an ethnographer and curator for the Brooklyn Museum, traveled to the Southwest and purchased many objects while there.
    At time time, there were already some regulations on the purchase and excavation of Native American objects, both imposed by the United States Government (if the object was found on federal land) and through tribal authorities. Culin noted that objects of major significance were not for sale.
    The Museum today fully complies with North American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA) and tribal authorities/governments in relation to our Native North American collections.

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