Vessel

In the early 1800s, the A'shiwi (Zuni) began to paint life forms on their pottery, such as highly abstracted birds. Several decades later, more naturalistic renderings became common. A typical late 19th century A'shiwi olla would often be enclosed by a series of two or three horizontal bands of differing widths and would be interrupted by a rosette and also sometimes a deer. As in this example, the deer have a red heart line, which runs down from the mouth and ends in an arrow shape at the heart. Based on a traditional A'shiwi story, the line may represent the animal's sacred breath of life.