DepartmentUnited States & Canada

Chocolateros' Hand Hammered Copper Pot

NamePot / jug / vessel

Artist Artist Not Recorded

Place collectedAcoma Pueblo, New Mexico, United States, North America

MediumHand hammered copper

Dimensions21 cm high; 26 cm at widest (79 cm circumference), 13 cm diameter basal foot or rim; 18 cm diameter at lip

Credit LineMuseum of International Folk Art, Gift of the Historical Society of New Mexico, A5.1958.1

Object numberA5.1958.1

DescriptionTapers outward from base to widest diameter in a classic bowl form. Neck above shoulder is nearly straight walled, 9.5 cm high, has hand-forged iron band or collar reinforcing lip on outside. This repair was probably made within the past century and the pot lip was then carefully bent out over the collar to form a smooth finish, all around. Pot originally had two copper handles of the traditional shape used for "chocolateros"--a rat-tail handle with bottom end free from vessel, and fastened at top by a pair of ears in which coppper rivets were hammered through ears and pot wall. One handle is in place, the other lost but marked by two rivet holes. A copper handle screened from Spanish house site on Santa Fe river near airport, (16.3) in 1957 which is far too big and too heavy to have been originally on a drinking mug, fits the present pot perfectly and if straightened where now bent, could serve as a replacement handle. This indicates that other copper pots of this size were brought into Spanish New Mexico, although at present others of similar size and shape have not been recorded. Site 16/3 is not yet completely excavated but artifacts from it fall into a time range of 1650-1720 or possibly a shorter occupation. (This is based as much on European and Oriental material as pueblo pottery.) It is a matter of speculation if late Rio Grande (post 1700) utility pots were influenced in shape by Spanish metal vessels such as this.