Advanced Search 
Duck effigy
Native American, Acoma Pueblo
1880–1900
Object Place: Acoma, New Mexico, United States, Southwest
Medium/Technique
Earthenware with slip paint and corncob
Dimensions
15.87 x 16.51 x 13.33 cm (6 1/4 x 6 1/2 x 5 1/4 in.)
Credit Line
Museum purchase with funds donated by Mr. and Mrs. Peter S. Lynch, Anne and Joseph P. Pellegrino, Anonymous gift, and Frank B. Bemis Fund
Accession Number1989.230
NOT ON VIEW
CollectionsAmericas
ClassificationsCeramics – Pottery – Earthenware
DescriptionThe object is an earthenware vessel in the stylized form of a bird. The body of the bird is created by the horizontal ovoid shaped ceramic body. The neck of the vessel is at one end of the ovoid. The lip of the neck has plastic additions of eyes and a beak. A small handle on the upper surface of the vessel, and a small pointed nodule are plastic additions meant to indicate tail elements. The bird has surface decoration in four colors: white, reddish rust, dark brown, and orange. The upper two-thirds of the effigy has a warm white ground, with traces of orange. The bottom third is a dark reddish rust color. These upper and lower colors are delineated by a dark brown horizontal double stripe around the body of the bird. On the upper white part of the body are designs in dark brown and orange. The dark brown is used for bold stylized designs indicating wings and tail elements, as well as on the raised lip of the neck indicating the head/beak of the bird. The orange is used to tone the ground, and in a flower on the lower back of the bird. Both orange and brown 'dashes' are used in a random pattern on the breast of the bird to indicate feathers. The bird's eyes are white with dark brown pupils. A corn cob stopper is in the neck of the vessel.
Provenance1884, acquired at Acoma Pueblo, New Mexico, on behalf of the Bureau of Ethnology (now the Bureau of American Ethnology) for the Smithsonian Institution, by Col. James D. Stevenson (b. 1840 – d. 1888), Washington, DC [see note]. 1989, sold by Hurst Gallery, Cambridge, MA, to the MFA. (Accession Date: September 27, 1989)
NOTE: Smithsonian Institution, Ethnology Ledgers, Volume 23, p. 160, probably no. 110909 (illustrated without the eyes and beak, which are later additions).
NOTE: Smithsonian Institution, Ethnology Ledgers, Volume 23, p. 160, probably no. 110909 (illustrated without the eyes and beak, which are later additions).