Mesa Verde Black-on-White Mug

Ancestral Pueblo, Mesa Verde region, Colorado

1100 AD

Ceramic, white slip, mineral pigment

Height 3 1/4 inches (8.25 cm); diameter 3 3/4 inches (9.25 cm), excluding handle

Provenance: Dave Hrachovy, Lake Arrowhead CA

Mesa Verde Black-on-white cylindrical mugs represent one of the most recognizable vessel forms of the Ancestral Pueblo tradition, produced in the Four Corners region during the Pueblo II and III periods and found in both domestic and mortuary contexts across the Colorado Plateau. This example is decorated with dense, all-over geometric patterning in black mineral pigment on white slip, incorporating stepped zigzag forms, interlocking fret elements, and hatch-filled zones that cover the full body of the vessel with compositional intensity. The robust strap handle is a characteristic feature of the Mesa Verde mug form, distinguishing it from the handleless cylindrical vessels produced elsewhere in the Ancestral Pueblo world.

The surface retains the original matte mineral pigment with strong contrast and the tonal variation characteristic of hand-ground mineral paints applied to a white slip ground. Mesa Verde mugs of this decorative density are among the most studied vessel forms in Southwestern archaeology. Not recovered from Federal or State land.

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