Bowl with Large Diamond-Shaped Area Interior with Dotted Lines and Diamonds, and Interlocking Stepped Motifs Possibly 950 - 1400

This bowl was made by an Ancestral Pueblo artist, though the date is unknown. The interlocking stepped motifs and diamond shapes aren’t just decoration, they offer a window into the worldview of the people who created them. Archaeological evidence places the Ancestral Pueblo people in the Southwestern United States from around 750 to 1540 AD. This places the objects they produced in a specific socio-historical context. Their lives were intricately linked to the landscape, and their art was too. The geometric designs and stepped patterns often mirrored the natural formations, and the cycles of the seasons. Religious beliefs and social structures would also have influenced the visual language of the bowl. The bowl’s journey to an institution like the Art Institute of Chicago raises further questions. How does displaying the bowl affect our understanding of its original purpose? What does it mean to see this object divorced from its cultural context? These are some of the questions art historians grapple with, drawing on archaeological reports, anthropological studies, and Indigenous knowledge. The bowl is a reminder that art speaks volumes about the society that created it.