# Jar with Horned Serpents and Interlocking, Hatched-and-Black Stepped Designs

- By: Ancestral Pueblo (West-central New Mexico)
- Date: 950–1400
- Medium: Earthenware and pigment
- Classification: Ceramics
- Dimensions: 42.6 × 41.3 cm (16 3/4 × 16 1/4 in.)
- Culture: New Mexico
- Credit line: Gift of Edward and Betty Harris
- Museum: [Art Institute of Chicago](https://www.artic.edu/artworks/187545)
- Rights: [Public domain (CC0)](https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/)
- Picture: https://www.artic.edu/iiif/2/5597db40-0eb3-f4a1-b976-351856d593cc/full/!1920,1080/0/default.jpg
- Who can see it: Teens profiles and older (museums give no ratings; placed by Invisible Network from the museum's own words)

Horned or plumed serpents, mythical entities associated with the life-giving power of water, have an ancient history in the art of the American Southwest, Midwest, and Southeast. On the shoulder of this vessel, twin highly abstract serpents stretch out from a central point, from which rises a series of superimposed stepped chevrons. The chevron is a symbolic motif widely associated with mountains, springs, rivers, and rising thunderstorms. The overall composition of this jar suggests the symbolic representation of a sacred landscape and the ritual summoning of water.

Description © Art Institute of Chicago, CC BY 4.0