Featured HELP IDENTIFY NATIVE AMERICAN BOWL

HELLO ALL.....HELP IDENTIFY THIS NATIVE AMERICAN BOWL....i purchased this at auction..you can still see the mark from the auction label on one of the photos..about 12 inches wide and i put a bottle of water for scale...looks hand worked as seen in last photo..im thinking hopi but im not even close to being an expert in this area...thanks in advance for your help...andy

 

Sorry, but this isn't Native American. It was made in Mata Ortiz, Mexico, and identified by the rounded bottom, and the distinctive design patterns.

None of the potters at Mata Ortiz claim any tribal affiliation.

It first appeared on the market in the late 1970s. Very little was known about it at first, so it was often identified as "Native American" and sold in shops and galleries as such.

Despite the research and documentation, a lot of "misinformation" still exists on the internet. The best reference would be the Fall 1994 issue of "KIVA,The Journal of Southwestern Anthropology and History." The entire issue is devoted to the history and updated research on Mata Ortiz pottery

 

I should have added that it is a good pot, and well-made. That is one of the reasons that Mata Ortiz pottery was originally sold as "Native American" in galleries dealing with Native American items. No one could believe that it could be Mexican pottery, especially made by those with little experience. It was apparently one made before potters at Mata Ortiz started signing with incised signatures, unlike those of Native American origin.

 

It's beautiful...Thanks!

 

thank you for all your help..i was thinking the same think that this was an earlier piece..there is a patina that i dont see on any of the ones on ebay

 

This has to be either pre-historic Casas Grandes, which dates 1250-1450 A.D., or it is called "Mata Ortiz", after the village in Mexico where it is made, which dates from the 1970's to the present.

In 1450 Paquime, the center of Casas Crandes culture burned, and the inhabitants vanished. There are no known descendants.

The area around the ancient city was uninhabited until the early 1900's, when the village of Mata Ortiz was started, first as a railroad camp, later as the site of a timber company, and finally as a farming town. All of the inhabitants came from other parts of Mexico. And none claim any tribal affiliation. They consider themselves simply “Mexican."

I would think it dates to the 1970s. The style itself is associated with the area of Porvenir, a barrio of Mata Ortiz. Potters there are accomplished in creating "copies" of
prehistoric pots, after the Mexican government made it against the law to sell the genuine article. They were so good at making "replicas", that even famous museums ended up with the copies in their collections. (One of the reasons most pottery now is incised with the potter's name.) The general style has also changed somewhat, to a more modern "look."

An article published by the Journal of the Southwest (Spring 2012), contains some of the more recent research results about Mata Ortiz pottery, and can be found by a web search for:

" Reconstructing a Miracle: New Perspectives
on Mata Ortiz Pottery Making "

 

thanks again for your help...do the unsigned pieces of mata ortiz have higher values than the signed pieces??because eventually im going to try to sell it..its so big i have no place to put it...but if it is prehistoric i would think price would go way up..where would be the best place to have it evaluated..i was going to send photos to a few auction houses but they make mistakes too

 

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