Zuni jars such as this were designed to hold water. Jars with three-dimensional applied figures appeared about the same time as the arrival of the Stevensons' collecting trips for the BAE (Bureau of American Ethnology), soon after railroads arrived in the Southwest.

Anglo collectors have always been attracted to pottery that has human and/or zoomorphic figures. These pots were purchased and passed down through the generations. This pot has survived the years well, with one frog's head having been broken off and then reattached to the pot.

To read more about Zuni polychrome jars with modeled frogs and painted butterflies, go to Lanmon and Harlow, The Pottery of Zuni Pueblo (University of New Mexico Press, Santa Fe, 2008), page 362.

ex: Marcy Burns American Indian Arts; Private Collection