Caroline Sando Jemez Pueblo Storyteller Figure with Nine Children & Turquoise

A hand-built and hand-painted Jemez Pueblo storyteller figure by Caroline Sando, depicting the matriarch in classic open-mouthed song with nine children gathered across her lap and shoulders. The figure wears traditional pueblo dress rendered in red clay slip and matte black, with a white manta collar anchored by a substantial 3/4" × 1/2" turquoise cabochon set at the throat. A small painted olla and an additional child figure rest at her feet, completing the family tableau.

The storyteller form was revived at Cochiti Pueblo by Helen Cordero in 1964 and spread quickly to Jemez, where potters developed a recognizable regional vocabulary: red clay bodies, red-and-black slip decoration, applied turquoise adornment, and increasingly populous gatherings of listening children. The tradition honors the oral historian — the elder who carries language, ceremony, and lineage forward through story. Nine children is a high count and demands careful hand-building to keep each face individuated; the children here are each distinctly modeled, their spotted black-and-terra-cotta garments echoing the palette of the mother figure above them.

CONDITION

Excellent. No remarkable damage noted. Turquoise cabochon is secure, slip decoration is bright throughout, and all nine children plus the small figure at the base are intact.

DIMENSIONS / SPECIFICATIONS

• Overall: 5-1/4" H × 3-1/4" W × 5" D
• Turquoise cabochon: 3/4" × 1/2"
• Children: 9 figures, plus one small figure at base
• Signed underside: Caroline Sando
• Pueblo: Jemez
• Campbell's Soup Can (4" H) Shown for Scale — Not Included