Tablita (Woman's Dance Headdress)
CultureRio Grande Pueblo, New Mexico
Dateca. 1875
MediumWood, native pigment, native tanned leather, and handspun cotton string
DimensionsOverall: 20 3/4 × 11 inches (52.71 × 27.94 cm)
Credit LineGift of Fifi White in honor of Marc Wilson
Object number2015.60.1
On View
On viewGallery Location
- 207
Collections
DescriptionHeaddress made of wood and painted with native pigments.Gallery LabelHeaddresses of this type, known as tablitas, are worn by Pueblo women in many ceremonial dances. This is one of a set of approximately 16 that purportedly came to Taos from Acoma Pueblo, perhaps by exchange, during the third quarter of the 19th century. The 16 were carved in different configurations, but each represented towering, stepped clouds over the landscape. All were carved of hand-adzed wood and painted with native pigments, with blue-green sky above and yellow ochre earth below, separated by a red ochre band that may represent the dawn or dusk.
Torrence, Gaylord, ed. Continuum: North American Native Art at the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art. Kansas City: Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art.
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