This glossary contains definitions of words that are commonly found in Pueblo pottery literature.
The horned/plumed serpent
The secrets of Avanyu remain closely guarded; many sources are reluctant to offer dialogue on the subject of Avanyu, and therefore, the discourse is limited.
Unique to Santa Clara, this is a motif impressed into a piece while the clay is still wet. The impression is meant to bring luck and fortune to its holder, for it was the bear that lead the Santa Clara people to water.
Unpainted black background polished to a deep sheen with smooth stones; or black-on-black, matte black paint painted onto a highly polished black background.
A heartline deer is a deer with lines running from its mouth into its body to form a triangular heart. It is a traditional ceremonial design on Zuni pottery. Acoma potters first borrowed this design element from Zuni around 1910 and again in the 1950's. The heartline is said to represent life itself. It is inspired by the spiritual connection between a deer and the hunter.
A white or colored slip applied to pottery usually for decoration or to improve the surface texture.
See also: Slip
A large bulging wide mouthed earthenware vessel sometimes with looped handles used (as by Pueblo Indians) for storage, cooking, or as a container for water.
Three or more mineral colors slips are used to decorate a hand built ceramic. The base color of the pot sometimes is thought of as the third color. The slip may be (1) painted directly on the pottery surface, or (2) may be used on the raised carved surface.
OR
Black designs painted on white or cream background that have been wiped with cloths to a light gloss or burnished with smooth stones to a deeper gloss; or designs in various shades of rust reds and oranges, browns, and black painted on similarly polished cream backgrounds.
A bowl or other dish used by Native Americans in the Southwest as a mold when making pots. Any form or mold used for making clay pots by hand.
Unpainted iron-red backgrounds wiped with clothes or polished with stones; black designs painted on similarly polished red backgrounds, or red-on-red, matte red paint painted on highly polished red background.
A form of decoration made by scratching through a surface to reveal a lower layer of a contrasting color, typically done in plaster or stucco on walls, or in a slip on ceramics before firing.
A sherd, or more precisely, potsherd, is commonly a historic or prehistoric fragment of pottery, although the term is occasionally used to refer to fragments of stone and glass vessels, as well. Occasionally, a piece of broken pottery may be referred to as a shard.
A slurry of clay and water, of a creamy consistency, used in casting ware as an engobe and with certain clay (as Albany slip) as a high-fire glaze. Light colored slips are used for polychrome and red colored slips are used for both redware and blackware. The slips are polished while damp with a cloth or small river-smoothed stone (see polishing stone).
A decorating technique in some pueblo styles where the artist adds a slip then rubs pigment onto the piece (not to be confused with the cleansing ceremony that is also called smudging).
Foreign material (sand, plant fibers, grit, shell, crushed rock, broken pottery, volcanic ash or rock) added to clay for pottery making to improve its firing qualities and to prevent a vessel from cracking during the drying process. Temper reduces plasticity, which would cause shrinkage or cracking upon drying and firing. The study of temper is important for the identification of the place of manufacture of a vessel.