Lucy Lewis is one of the great Matriarch potters of the past century. This large canteen is coil built and painted using bee-weed, a plant.  It is not often that we see pieces of hers this size and with such extensive intricate designs.  The canteen has a flat base and it is painted on the front and back with a spiraling bird wing pattern.  It is this type of painting which would later become the “op-art” of Acoma pottery in the 1980’s. The central medallion on the front has a lizard painted with red clay accents.  Note the little white dots on the tail of the lizard!  The handles are also painted and there is a leather strap.  The canteen is signed on the bottom, “Lucy M. Lewis”.   It is in very good condition with no chips, cracks, restoration or repair, but a few little areas of wear and spalling which can be seen in the photos.  Interestingly, this canteen has an interesting provenance.  There is a photo which accompanies the canteen with Lucy holding it. In the photo, it looks like it had a red ribbon with it, but that has been lost.  The canteen is also published with another photo of Lucy holding it in the book, “14 Families in Pueblo Pottery” by Rick Dillingham.  It’s rare to see a piece that has such a great provenance of photos of the artist with the piece and published as well!