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Weary Family Foundation

Beach Museum of Art
Kansas State University
701 Beach Lane,
Manhattan, KS 66506
(14th & Anderson Ave.)

785-532-7718
beachart@ksu.edu

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Miniature redware seed jar
Miniature redware seed jar
Miniature redware seed jar

Miniature redware seed jar

Artist (United States, New Mexico, Santa Clara Pueblo, born 1938)
Date1974
MediumEarthenware
DimensionsH x W x D: 2 5/16 x 2 7/16 x 2 1/4 in. (5.9 x 6.2 x 5.7 cm)
Object TypeCeramics
Credit LineKSU, Marianna Kistler Beach Museum of Art, gift of Mel and Mary Cottom
Object number2012.211
On View
Not on view
Description

The Zuni, the Pueblo people of New Mexico, believe that Awonawilona, the creator of the world, became the Sun. Awitelin Tsita, the Sun-Father, and Apoyan Tachu, the Earth-Mother, are the parents of all living creatures. They are celebrated in Pueblo religion through the worship of Katsina/Kachina, divine and ancestral spirit beings who interact with humans.

The sun face or sun shield is an important symbol in the agricultural society of the Zuni. It symbolizes abundance, continuity, stability, positive energy, hope, happiness and peace. Associated with warmth and prosperity, it is a common motif in jewelry and pottery.
 

Materials and motifs used to represent the Katsina have symbolic associations:

Turquoise – spiritual stone of oneness and unity

Mother of Pearl/white – imagination and adaptability

Coral/red – protective and soothing

Jet/black – stability and protection

A divided forehead – uniqueness of a person, a person’s multifaceted role as part of the family and community, and the non-stop cycle of sunrise and sunset

Round mouth – continuity of life

Feather-like designs - rays of the Sun

Exhibitions
Carved redware jar
Grace Medicine Flower
1976
2012.202
Blackware jar
Lucy (Year Flower) Tafoya
late 20th century
2012.207
Carved redware jar
Camilio (Sunflower) Tafoya
1977
2012.201
Polychrome shoulder jar
Celeci Ta Vicenti
early 20th century
2012.183
Carved redware jar
Camilio (Sunflower) Tafoya
1977
2012.199
Polychrome seed jar
Leah Nampeyo
mid 20th century
2012.190
Silver inlaid kachina pin
Undetermined
20th century
2012.243
Miniature red on white bowl
Blue Corn
late 20th century
2012.212
Incised Redware Plate
Anthony (Tony) E. Da
late 20th century
2012.182
Miniature redware vase
Arthur Haungooah
1975
2012.210
Susan Grace, Guardian LS, 1995, photomechanical reproduction, 5 13/16 x 4 in., Kansas State Uni…
Susan Grace
1995
CM16d.2023
Sunflower III
Sue Jean Covacevich
May 1,1982
2018.248