Zuni Pottery

Zuni Pottery

Located forty miles south of Gallup New Mexico the Zuni pueblos produce a unique style of pottery that can easily be distinguished from the other pueblo pottery types based on form, design and materials. The Zuni use a white to gray clay with a crushed rock temper and paint their pots with a bright white slip and a dark brown to black mineral paint that is often accented by a dark red mineral paint. With utility always in mind Zuni potters did not focus on symmetry of form as much as their neighbors at Acoma but rather on the design motifs. Zuni pottery has many design styles but three particular styles seemed to be favored during the end of the 19th century through the first half of the 20th century, these include the geometric abstracted rain bird motif, the heart-line deer with rosettes design, and a curvilinear abstracted rain bird motif. The Zuni also made a variety of forms including owls, deer, human figures, handled kiva bowls, as well as canteens, ollas, and dough bowls.