Featured Zuni (?) bowl w/ hole???

Well, this piece is weird. The shape and the geometric designs look authentic to me...

But I've never seen deer kinda turned in profile like that...

And the hole in the bottom--- say what?

It's 7" wide, about 3" high, and seems to be one of those pieces that someone painted w shellac.

Thank you for any opinions and ideas about what's going on here.

 

a funnel of some sort?

 

Could be.

 

It's almost too pretty for this but maybe a succulent bowl.

 

Interesting. Thanks for the idea. It definitely seems utilitarian. The bowl doesn't 'sit' perfectly evenly though...

Pueblo potters made lamp bases in the 50's and 60's, as they seemed to sell to tourists, but it's hard to think that there could be a pottery lamp shade.

Additionally, on historical Southwest bowls and pots there was sometimes a 'kill hole' where the pot had been deliberately destroyed by smashing a small hole in the bottom, perhaps in a ceremonial way. The hole on mine, though, is too clean and intentional to be that, so I'll keep searching for other ideas.

 

Don't know it's purpose, but looks like there "could" be some writing in that left deer's body?????

​

 

You're such a sharp eye!

On the back of the deer, there's something caught in the shellac (or whatever it is).



And on the front, it looks like two slightly different colors of brown.

 

that's a hair from the paint brush..........

or a pube..

 

Possible chance for some DNA on your piece Pott-verrry interesting,could lead to the purbertrator ?

 

They are unusual deer. I wonder if the potter was inspired by some version of Landseer's "Monarch of the Glen". It was a very popular image throughout the 19th century, including being used by the Hartford Insurance Company.

 

Interesting. Thanks for the idea. Most deer I've seen on Zuni pots are a straight-side profile, though I've also seen some online where the animal is looking backwards. These ones on this pot seem so... so 'graphic art' -ish that they're unusual. It seems likely that they were based on something else.

And the hole in the middle.... ????

 

The three-quarters view of the deer are not classically NA pictographic-that's European influenced perspective.The shellac patina seems like a late 19th nineteenth to early-twentieth century preservation technique.The hole in the bowl could be a custom-made feature.
It's a cool piece.

 

Thanks @bosko69. I tend to agree with your comments here.

 

I don't have any good ideas about the hole. The whole piece seems small for a lamp shade. And why paint inside and outside if it was designed to be a shade? There is wear only on the exterior surface of the hole, not the interior surface or the inside edge. So it seems to have sat on the exterior surface, like a regular bowl.

Clearly, someone was interested in experimenting, and it may not have been entirely well thought out.

 

it's really special !

 

Thanks everybody!

 

My best guess is that it is a funnel. However, know of no precedence for one among Pueblo potters, nor do I find any with a quick search. Would think that if it was a lid or shade of some kind, it would not be decorated both sides. May well be one of a kind for personal use.