The Dr. Samuel R. Poliakoff Collection of Western Art

This husband and wife team creates many styles of distinctive pottery— from very large to masterly painted pieces such as this. On larger water jars, they often decorate with a parrot theme, while on small seed jars they generally prefer to use Mimbres designs. Here we see a Mimbres style warrior figure holding a shield and arrow. The Cernos are also well known for making pottery inspired by historic ceramics that they have studied in museum collections and books. They particularly admire Mimbres pottery, a style of pottery made in the southwestern area of New Mexico, 900-1150 AD.