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THB[NATIVE AMERICAN] c. 1890 Apache Water Jar or Tus
![[NATIVE AMERICAN] c. 1890 Apache Water Jar or Tus](https://s1.img.bidsquare.com/item/xl/3520/35202983.jpeg?t=1VQgdK)
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About Auction
LiveApr 24, 2026
Day one of Fleischer's 2026 Spring premier auction includes early American artifacts, documents, signatures, ephemera, and weaponry. Rare material relating to African American history is featured, as well as fine examples of antique photography. Fleischer's Auctions info@fleischersauctions.com
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- Lot Description
(LIKELY) APACHE, AMERICAN SOUTHWEST, ca. 1890.
Pitch-Coated Water Jar (or Tus).
(Likely) Apache Pitch-coated water jar (or Tus). circa 1890.
A classic pitch-coated water vessel in a globular form with a strongly shouldered body rising to a narrowed neck and pronounced, outward-flaring mouth. Its rim is thickened and neatly finished, revealing a band of the underlying coil work. The vessel is fitted with two opposed, integrally formed strap lugs at the widest point of the body, designed to receive a carrying cord or secure the jar for transport. Constructed in tightly coiled basketry, built in measured spirals over a foundation bundle and subsequently sealed, the exterior is extensively coated in a deep, lustrous resinous pitch, now matured to a rich warm-brown tonality with naturally evolved craquelure and a tactile, striated relief, showing evidence of long-use.
Among the Western Apache and related Athabaskan-speaking peoples of the greater Southwest (whose homelands encompassed what is now Arizona and New Mexico), basketry constituted one of the most highly developed and culturally significant art forms. Unlike their Pueblo neighbors, who produced ceramic ollas for water storage, the Apache and other mobile groups, such as the Yavapai and certain Tonto Basin communities, relied heavily upon basketry technology adapted to semi-arid landscapes and seasonal movement. The pitch-coated water jar represents one of the most ingenious expressions of this tradition: a lightweight, resilient container capable of holding water without the fragility or weight of fired clay.
The application of heated piñon or other vegetal resin created a waterproof seal while also reinforcing the structure. This process, requiring both technical precision and experiential knowledge of local materials, transformed a flexible coil basket into a durable utilitarian vessel. The two opposed lugs, subtly modeled and fully integrated into the wall, speak to its intended mobility, allowing suspension by cordage during travel or storage.
Such vessels were central to daily subsistence activities, such as water gathering, storage, and transport, but also carried broader cultural significance. Among Apache communities, basketry was predominantly the domain of women and was deeply embedded within systems of knowledge transmission, identity, and social continuity.
By the late nineteenth century, particularly in the decades surrounding reservation consolidation, vessels like the example offered reflect both continuity of ancestral practice and adaptation to shifting economic realities. Some were produced strictly for internal community use, while others entered emerging regional trade networks, where Anglo collectors and institutions began to recognize Southwestern basketry as both an ethnographic artifact and an aesthetic achievement.
[Native Americans, Native American History, American Indian, Indian History]
Condition
Structurally sound. The pitch coating exhibits stable craquelure, scattered abrasions, and minor localized losses consistent with age and utilitarian handling. Soft wear to rim and lugs; underlying coil structure visible at the mouth remains intact.
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