Clown or warrior; Tesuque Pueblo; 1883<BR> Micaceous pottery, pigments; h. 13,2 cm.<BR> RMV 362-146; collected by Herman ten Kate at Tesuque, September 1883<BR> <BR> Tourism, Anglo-American fascination with the exotic, Pueblo Indian pottery, and Pueblo Indian humor all converged (or collided) in New Mexico in 1880 with the completion of the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway. The first train arrived in Santa Fe in February of that year, and within a month at least two “curio” dealers were selling Pueblo pottery, supplied primarily by potters of Tesuque, which is just north of town, and of Cochiti, the nearest pueblo to the south.<BR> <BR> Puebloans had made ceramic figurines for centuries for ritual purposes and as toys, but with a new external market the tradition blossomed, and potters expressed themselves through thousands of human and animal figurines, as well as unrecognizable, fanciful creatures. Some potters, especially at Cochiti, depicted and even satirized non-Indians, invariably portraying them with their mouths wide open and often in unflattering postures. Potters at Tesuque sometimes made human figurines with genitals rendered plainly, as if deliberately playing into Anglo-Americans’ preconceived notions of Native peoples.<BR> <BR> The irony in Pueblo potters playing tricks on buyers is obvious. However in a double twist, curio dealers, who postured themselves as cultural brokers, marketed figurines as heathen idols and often named them, for example War God or God of Pain. Although the pottery and the dealers who sold it were dismissed by many early ethnologists as debased, some figurines from Cochiti are among the greatest masterpieces of historic Pueblo pottery.<BR> <BR> Very few early figurines from Tesuque have survived due to their fragile nature, and fewer still retain documentation. The marvelous example shown here is one of the rare exceptions, and it typifies Tesuque workmanship of the early 1880s. These objects were shaped with the fingers and without tools other than to shape eyes and mouth. The method and small scale prevented the modeling of finer detail. Almost all figurines of this vintage are hollow and are either modeled with micaceous clay or covered with a thin micaceous slip.<BR> <BR> Most representations of humans are seated, so this lively warrior or ritual clown impersonating a warrior is unusual. Many of the maker’s intentions are unclear, starting with the tribal identity of the subject. The man is wearing a helmet-like headdress, but most likely this is intended to be a hide cap with feathers. He wears fringed hide leggings and has a shield on his back, with a strap indicated over his right shoulder. He holds what appears to be a lance in his right arm and an unknown object in his left. It is impossible to know whether the warrior or clown is Tewa – the culture of Tesuque Pueblo – or represents another culture, for example Jicarilla Apache or Comanche. The yellow and orange-red paints are shockingly bright, but they are not unique to this piece. Several documented Tesuque figurines of this vintage in American museums were painted with an equally brilliant pink. These commercial paints or pigments are still unidentified.<BR> <BR> Accounts of Pueblo Indians taking their pottery to Santa Fe to sell or trade date back to the seventeenth century. In 1883 the earliest curio establishments operated in a manner similar to a trading post. Pueblo potters still took their work by cart or wagon to Santa Fe, but instead of selling it on the town plaza or peddling it door-to-door, they might trade the entire load to a curio dealer for groceries and dry goods. Ten Kate could easily have acquired this piece in Santa Fe where scientists from the Smithsonian Institution, American Museum of Natural History, and many other institutions purchased Tesuque figurines from curio dealers. However, the Dutch anthropologist also visited the nearby pueblo and might have picked it up there.<BR> <BR> The maker of this piece worked quickly and may have been helped by members of her family. Pottery making for the curio trade was a cottage industry, and quantity was favored over artistry. Regardless, a potter’s expression was still unique. By 1887 most figurines made at Tesuque conformed to a uniform style, the so-called Tesuque Rain God, which was made by the thousands and survived until recently as an element of Tesuque identity.<BR> <BR> Jonathan Batkin<BR> Wheelwright Museum of the American Indian, Santa Fe, NM; 2015<BR> <BR> 362-146<BR> Human figure, Tesuque Pueblo; micaceous pottery, pigment; h. 13.2 cm.; 1883.<BR> Effigies of people, animals and gods have a long tradition in Pueblo ceramics since A.D. 300, probably as part of fertility rituals in societies struggling against all odds to survive in the semi-arid desert by practicing horticulture. They are known from Casas Grandes, Chaco Canyon, and elsewhere in the Southwest. The Spanish were probably responsible for the repression of such expressions of religious beliefs, explaining their virtual absence from the archaeological record since 1500. However, by the fourth quarter of the nineteenth century figurative Pueblo ceramics once again appeared and were produced in ever increasing numbers due to demand from the emerging tourist market (Babcock 1987).<BR> The exact identity of this male human figure remains in doubt. He could represent a warrior with the round shield on his back, the war cap, gun and spear, and leggings. However, equally possible is his interpretation as a circus figure, possibly a juggler, because of the pointed hat, flaring trousers, juggling paraphernalia, and gaudy orange-red color of dress and facial paint. Indians occasionally obtained rare glimpses of the outside world through circus acts that traveled through the region. However, Pueblo ceramic figures often manifest a combination of elements from their own society and the unfamiliar outside world. Figurines produced both at Tesuque and Santo Domingo pueblos interpreted outsiders including priests, cowboys, and merchants, in addition to figures like the one illustrated here. Outsiders often purchased early figurines believing they were religious objects, "clay idols", when in fact they were often parodies revealing the Native view of outsiders, or figures suggested by white traders catering to popular ideas about and imagery of Indians in Anglo-American society (Batkin 1998, 1999; Batkin ed. 1999; Falkenstein-Doyle 1999; Fogelman Lange 2002; Bernstein 2005:38-39,80,95; cf. Fane 1991:118).<BR> (Duane Anderson and Pieter Hovens 2008-09)<BR> <BR> 362-144, 145, 146 Tesuque tourist style pottery<BR> Due in part to their proximity to Santa Fe, villagers from Tesuque Pueblo were active in the production of items for the tourist market beginning ca. 1870. In addition to traditional decorated black-on-cream pottery they also produced a variety of figurines and animal effigies made of micaceous clay or slipped with a micaceous clay slip. Working in collaboration with Santa Fe traders, Tesuque potters also produced so-called clay idols that roughly paralleled the hollow figurine tradition that developed simultaneously at Santo Domingo Pueblo. The clay idols evolved into a series of smaller and more portable "gods" that were sold in large quantities via the railroad and through mail order catalogs across the U.S. There were gods of war, gods of pain, and gods of rain, among others. The rain gods eventually gained popularity over the others and formed a tradition of manufacture at the pueblo that continues to the present day. In the 1920s Tesuque artists began using bright colors of poster paint applied after firing. It was as popular with tourists as it was unpopular within the academic and museum communities who favored "more traditional" art forms and condemned the brightly colored pots and rain gods as "tourist junk." Today pottery wares are still produced for the tourist market at Tesuque. Artists have shifted away from poster paints to the use of earlier plain micaceous and decorated cream slipped forms (Anderson 2002; Fogelman Lange 2002; Batkin 1998, 1999).<BR> (Duane Anderson 2008-09)<BR> <BR> <BR> Menselijk figuurtje van aardewerk, een clown voorstellend met een puntmuts, wijde broek en enkele attributen voor zijn optreden; de kleding is oranjerood, evenals de gezichtsbeschildering. TESUQUE<BR> <BR> In de 19e eeuw viel het aardewerk van Tesuque op vanwege de kwaliteit in techniek, vormgeving en decoratie. Dieren en planten werden vaak afgebeeld, de laatste een vruchtbaarheidssymbool.<BR> <BR> De kwaliteit van het aardewerk ging eind 19e eeuw snel achteruit door de nabijheid van de stad Santa Fe. De entree in een geldeconomie betekende aanpassing van de productie aan de westerse markt. Tesuque produceerde bloempotten, waterkannen en potten met deksels, naast souvenirs voor de opkomende toeristenindustrie. Vanaf de 1880s contracteerden de handelaren Jake Gold en Charles Marsh veel pottenbaksters vooral in Tesuque, maar ook in andere pueblos, om goedkope soevenirs te produceren. Zij verkochten direct aan het publiek, maar ook via postorder, waarvoor zij reclamefolders lieten drukken.<BR> <BR> Kenmerkend zijn de "regengoden", kleine zittende figuurtjes van micahoudend aardewerk, een product dat niet traditioneel is maar werd ontwikkeld omdat het de beelden die blanken van Indianen hadden aansprak. Miniaturisering van aardewerk (vaatwerk, figuren) was onlosmakelijk verbonden met de toeristenmarkt.<BR> <BR> In de dertiger jaren begon men met het beschilderen van aardewerk potjes en miniaturen in fellere kleuren en met art deco motieven. De kleurstelling werd steeds heftiger en kitschiger waarmee Tesuque "faam" heeft gemaakt.<BR> <BR> <BR>