Bowl with Black Interlocking Lattice on Interior; White Interlocking Squared Spirals on Exterior Possibly 1300 - 1400

This bowl was made by a Cibola artist, and the patterns were created from mineral and vegetal sources. We can infer that this bowl was pit-fired, a low temperature firing in the ground, from the way the painted decoration has bonded with the clay. The black lattice work inside, the white spirals outside, and the warm orange clay give us a sense of the material landscape that these artists inhabited. As you can see, the entire surface has been rigorously worked, with the intricate patterns demanding careful labor. There’s a real contrast between the geometric precision of the decoration and the relative crudeness of the clay itself. The bowl has the slightly irregular shape we associate with hand-building. The artist has created more than just a functional object. They have imbued a very simple vessel with a sense of cultural identity. When we understand the amount of work involved in the production process, we can appreciate the importance of materials, making, and context in understanding the full meaning of an artwork.