Wedding Jar (c. 1900): Art, History and Details

Wedding Jar (c. 1900) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

At Santa Clara Pueblo, the double-spouted wedding jar is made not only to sell but also for use during its namesake ceremony, when the bride and groom drink from opposite spouts. The origin of the unusual form is unclear; once considered a modern innovation, it may instead be an ancient form revived in the late 1800s, perhaps in response to market forces that tourism set in play. This example is made from the black ware for which Santa Clara potters are known.

Object facts

• Title: Wedding Jar
• Date: c. 1900
• Culture: Southwest, Pueblo, Santa Clara, Post-Contact, 20th century
• Type: Ceramic
• Technique: ceramic
• Dimensions: Overall: 15.5 x 21.5 cm (6 1/8 x 8 7/16 in.)
• Collection: AA - Native North America
• Department: Art of the Americas
• Accession number: 1933.16

Collection credit

Gift of Mrs. Horatio Ford

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.