Native American, Southwestern USA, Colorado, Anasazi/Ancestral Puebloans, ca. 1200 to 1300 CE. A fine example of a pottery mug made in the Mesa Verde Black-on-White tradition in what is today southwestern Colorado. The body of the mug is a tapering cylinder, with a circular neck and a wide strap handle extending from below the rim to the shoulder. On the handle and body is a complex design of interlocking triangular patterns, perhaps meant to evoke the shape of the dramatic southwestern landscape. Size: 4" W x 3.5" H (10.2 cm x 8.9 cm)
Vessels like this one were made from a gray or white paste 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. They were made by people 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: ex-Joan Shaw collection, bought in 1971; loaned to the Mesa Verde Museum, 1962-1970; ex-Bill Mitchell collection, Cortez, Colorado, USA, acquired from 1958 to 1962
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#147758
Condition
One chip from rim, otherwise in great condition, with firing marks on interior and light wear commensurate with age to surface. The pigment is beautifully preserved. Old collection number handwritten on base.