Provenance Information

Alexander–Suggs Gallery, Chicago, by Dec. 1975 [this and the following according to receipt, item A577, Dec. 27, 1975; copy in curatorial object file, Arts of the Americas]; sold to Patricia Brett Erens, Chicago, Dec. 27, 1975; given to the Art Institute of Chicago, 2021.

Exhibition Information

None

Publication Information

None

Section of the AAMD Guidelines relied upon for the exception to 1970

Informed judgement that works were outside of the country of modern discovery before 1970

Explain why the object fits the exception set forth above

It is not currently possible to determine if the object originated within the United States or Mexico due to the absence of archaeological provenience and because Casas Grandes societies inhabited both sides of the present-day US-Mexico border. If the object originated in Mexico, provenance research allows the museum to make an informed judgment that the work was most likely in the United States by 1970. The object was acquired in Chicago by Patricia Brett Erens, the donor, by December 27, 1975, according to the invoice from the Alexander-Suggs satellite gallery in Chicago. Attempts to contact affiliates of the gallery for more information have not yet been successful. Presumably, however, it would have been in the possession of the gallery for a period of time before the sale, and possibly first at the main Alexander-Suggs Gallery in Saint Louis, MO. As a border culture, Casas Grandes has often been overlooked by museums, and this vessel will help present a more diverse and inclusive understanding of Indigenous art in the Americas.