Provenance Information

Private collection, Deming, NM, by 1973 [this and the following according to correspondence from private collector, Chicago, Apr. 22, 2021; copy in curatorial object file, Arts of the Americas]; sold to private collection, Chicago, after 1973; sold to Patricia Brett Erens, Chicago, Apr. 17, 1975 [receipt 9869, Apr. 17, 1975; copy in curatorial object file, Arts of the Americas]; 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, on April 17, 1975. It was formerly owned by another private collector in Chicago who has confirmed it was purchased from a previous private collector in Deming, NM, in 1973. The length of time that the object was in the private collection in Deming is not yet known. 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.