LARGE APACHE TUS – WOVEN PITCH COVERED WATER JAR
– LATE 19TH CENTURY – EXCELLENT FRONTIER
APACHERIA ERA PIECE: These Apache Tus
have been described as “timeless”, woven in the same
shapes, of the same native plant materials, and coated
in the same manner with pitch from the pinon pines for
longer than human memory can recall. Once the proper
materials and method of construction were perfected,
there was simply no reason to change either one, and the
Tus descended through history, continuing to serve the
Apache people well as a necessary utensil in each
household.
After tightly weaving the foundation basket, in order to
make the basket waterproof so that it would hold water
both the interior and exterior were coated in pinon pine
pitch. The exterior was then finished by rubbing a
mixture of Juniper leaves or needles and red ochre to
further seal the surface and to impart a pleasing red
color to the translucent pine pitch. The red color on
this tus has aged to an even mellow medium reddish
brown.
Measuring 11" tall and just shy of 9" in diameter at the
widest point, this Tus has survived in very good
condition. With no breaks or separations in the woven
material, it is stable and strong throughout and retains
its full form. The rim of the opening is finished with
a nicely executed braid, one of the recognized features
of a well made Tus. While these top rim edges are
prone to being broken or separated through time or
improper handling, the rim on this Tus remains firmly
attached with no sign of weakness. The pinon pine pitch
coating is intact over the majority of the external
surface with only small points of wear where the
underlying weaving was exposed. The interior is
likewise coated with pitch. Note that the color of the
pitch is much darker – more of a deep reddish brown -
than it appears in the photos. Without increasing the
light and contrast of the photos which in turn lightened
the color of the pitch as it appears in the photos, the
pitch appeared as black and no detail of the surface was
discernable.
The two original horse hair handles, each formed of five
braids of black hair, are fully intact with no broken
strands and they remain supple and quite strong. Tied
between the two handles is a strip of cotton cloth –
red, with a beige dot pattern – forming a hanging or
carrying handle. The cloth strip looks to have
originally been approximately 1 ˝” wide and was torn or
cut from a bandana or a piece of shirting. It is laced
three times between the two sets of horse hair handle
braids and the ends of the cloth strip were then knotted
to hold it in place. The cloth is obviously old and
shows wear, but it is not rotten or decayed.
A similar tus is pictured in James Hanson’s Spirits
in the Art, a photographic anthology of Native
American art, which is identified as Jicarilla Apache,
dated ca. 1880. That tus shares the same basic form as
this specimen to include the two horse hair braided
handles and those handles, like those on this specimen,
are drawn together with a strip of material, suggesting
this was a common manner of carrying or hanging these
jars.
While the consistency of the design of these Tus through
the years makes dating them somewhat difficult, this
specimen show obvious signs of age and patina, and the
weight and sturdy construction are such that this Tus
was made to use in a time when the owner depended on it
to haul and hold the water for the household. Certainly
it dates back to the last quarter of the 19TH
Century. Further arguing for its age, this Tus was
obtained from the same collection as the other early
Apache pieces which are, or will soon be, listed on our
site. All of the items date from the last half or
quarter of the 19TH Century, and I suspect
they were collected by the same unknown person during
their time in the Arizona and/or New Mexico Territories
– perhaps an army officer who brought these pieces home
as souvenirs of his service.
This is very nice specimen of a vessel which would have
been an absolute necessity in every Apache home, and was
likely used in more than a few officers’ quarters and
enlisted barracks in the forts established across the
Southwest Frontier. (0358) $1200
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