Images(3)

Bowl

DateOctober 28, 1985

Maker Daisy Stewart "Red Wing" Bradby (1914 - 1996)

OriginAmerica, Virginia, King William County, Pamunkey Reservation

MediumEarthenware

DimensionsOH: 3 1/4"; OW: 6 3/8"

Credit LineGift of Edward A. Chappell

Object number2005.900.3

DescriptionEarthenware bowl of coiled construction with applied, hand-formed female faces (masks) on either side of the vessel, fired in an open wood fire and burnished. The date, maker and location of manufacture are incised on the underside of the bowl.
Label TextFor centuries, the Pamunkey Indians have produced pottery for daily use, while also providing an outlet for artistic expression. During the 1930s, some women on the Pamunkey reservation began making earthenware pottery for sale to tourists. Besides the traditional-style pots, they offered designs more closely associated with tribes of the American southwest. The women formed a tribal pottery guild to pass their skills on to the younger generation. The maker of this pot, Daisy Bradby, whose potter’s name, Red Wing, is incised on the base, learned this tradition from her mother. Unlike most of the pots in this museum, this bowl was constructed by coiling bands of clay one on top of the other. It was fired in an open pit and burnished or polished to provide sheen to the surface.
ProvenancePurchased by Ed Chappell from Daisy Bradby in 1985 and given to the Foundation in 2005.

Exhibition(s)