Posted 8 years ago
SamO
(12 items)
Anyone have any ideas as to the origins of these Native American shakers? They are about 1 1/2" tall and 1" at the base.
I'd appreciate any info or direction. Thanks much.
Native American Salt & Peppers Shakers. | ||
| Native American Antiques856 of 1909 |  |  |
Tesuque Pueblo, New Mexico.
Thanks CanyonRoad... can you recomend any source to learn more about native American art identification?
That's a pretty broad category, but if you want to start with pottery, the reference I always recommend is "Southwestern Pottery, Anasazi to Zuni" by Allan Hayes and John Blom. The original edition came out, I believe, in 1996, and there is now a second, revised, edition. Both books are excellent, and the revised edition is expanded, and in some parts rewritten with additional updated information. Both should be in the library of anyone who is interested in the topic. Absolutely the best to start out with.
Textiles, I would suggest "Rugs and Posts" as a beginning reference.
Baskets, a first book should be "Art of the Basket, Traditional Basketry from Around the World" by Bryan Sentance. It covers terminology, materials, and techniques of basketry in general, but most importantly, has illustrations of hundreds of baskets that are frequently misidentified as Native American...most of which can be found daily on eBay incorrectly identified as "Native American." (So another piece of advice, never (and I'd underline that if it were possible) use eBay listings as a reference source!)
Got carried away with those ( ( ) ) marks, and didn't proofread first! But wanted to get that point across. On any given day, up to 90% of the New Listings on eBay under the Native American Pottery and Baskets categories are misidentified. Yesterday the first 10 basketry listings were not Native American, although all were listed and identified as Indian baskets.
EBay is notorious for the incorrect identifications in the Native American categories, even though it is a federal offense to offer something for sale as Indian, or from a specific tribe, if it is not actually made by an enrolled member or designated artisan of a federally-recognized U.S. tribe.
So one should also be familiar with the Indian Arts and Crafts Act of 1990 (there is a government web site with complete details), not only as a seller, but as a buyer as well. It's a consumer-protection law, as well as a law designed to protect the Native American Indian crafts people from imports and other items being misrepresented as Native American art.
CanyonRoad thank you for taking the time to reply. Your suggestions are a great starting point and I appreciate your comments on eBay and Native American Art laws as well.
CanyonRoad, these have similar markings and coloration to the Zuni Wedding Vase I posted so I thought you were going to say that these were Japanese fakes too. So it appears my vase is based on this Tesuque Pueblo decor.
These inexpensive souvenir items painted with poster paint were only made by two tribes, the Tesuque and the Jemez, starting in the 1930s.
They were the low end of the market, and ignored and dismissed for years because most showed little craftsmanship, and they were totally non-traditional. The bright colors were painted on after the firing, they immediately smeared, but they sold to tourists who just wanted a cheap souvenir.
When acrylics came on the market in the 1940s, they switched to those, which were a little more durable.
In the 1950s, however, Japan entered the market with several styles of very inexpensive painted pottery souvenirs that were sold throughout the Southwest. The wedding vase form was one, but the story and the design patterns were complete fabrications, a mix of so-called "Indian" symbols from unrelated tribes all over the country. They were usually accompanied by hang tags which explained the "meaning" of the symbols.
Many tourists bought the story and the pots, though, which resulted in increasing demands for the passage of the Indian Arts and Crafts Act. The poster paint pottery was at least made by Native American Indians, trying to make a living, even if the product was low-end. And there are collectors for it today, who consider it a type of folk art/Indian kitsch.
Gotcha, that's what I expected along those lines that you would explain, thanks for the clarification, excellent information as always.