Native American pottery from the Southwest is among the most technically accomplished and culturally rich ceramic traditions in the world. Unlike pottery produced on a wheel, traditional Pueblo pottery is built by hand using the coil method, in which long ropes of clay are stacked and smoothed to form the vessel walls. The clay itself is often gathered from specific local sources that have been used by particular communities for generations, and the firing process, traditionally done in an outdoor pit or kiln using wood or dung as fuel, produces surface effects that cannot be replicated by modern methods.

Each pottery tradition in the Southwest has its own distinctive visual vocabulary. Acoma pottery is known for its fine-line geometric designs and thin-walled construction. Hopi pottery carries polychrome painted designs rooted in ancient Sikyatki traditions. Santa Clara and San Ildefonso pottery is celebrated for its black-on-black ware, developed in the early twentieth century and now recognized as one of the great innovations in American ceramic art. Jemez, Santo Domingo, and Ute Mountain traditions each bring their own forms, designs, and firing methods to a field of extraordinary diversity.

Pottery has been made in the American Southwest for at least two thousand years, and the traditions practiced by contemporary Pueblo potters are directly connected to those ancient origins. The ancestral Pueblo peoples, known archaeologically as the Anasazi, produced pottery of remarkable sophistication, and the visual traditions they developed continue to influence the work of potters today.

The revival of traditional Pueblo pottery in the twentieth century is one of the great stories in American art history. By the late nineteenth century, the introduction of metal and glass trade goods had reduced demand for traditional pottery, and many of the old techniques were at risk of being lost. A renewed interest from collectors, anthropologists, and arts advocates helped spark a revival that brought traditional methods back to the center of Pueblo artistic life.

That revival produced some of the most celebrated figures in the history of American craft, artists whose work is now held in major museum collections and whose influence on subsequent generations of potters has been profound. Today, Pueblo pottery is recognized not merely as craft but as fine art, collected seriously by institutions and individuals around the world.

The pottery in our collection ranges from historic pieces that document earlier traditions to contemporary works by potters carrying those traditions forward with skill and innovation. For collectors interested in the ceremonial dimension of Southwest ceramic art, our fetishes and kachinas collection offers related works with deep roots in Pueblo spiritual life. Those drawn to the broader material culture of the Southwest will also find our artifacts collection a natural companion, particularly for pre-Columbian ceramic works that predate the historic Pueblo traditions. And for collectors interested in the sculptural qualities of pottery, our sculpture collection brings together three-dimensional works across a wide range of materials and traditions.

Pottery is one of the most rewarding categories in which to collect, combining aesthetic pleasure, cultural depth, and a direct connection to one of the world's great artistic traditions.