A Zia polychrome olla
The globular vessel with sharply rounded upper shoulder and raised tapering neck, decorated with a large-scale chain of ovals about the center, each hollow oval with cruciform center, leaf forms and scallops below, stylized feathers conforming to the top, a neck band showing split leaf or feather motifs, small areas of restoration.
height 13 3/4in, diameter 15 1/2in
height 13 3/4in, diameter 15 1/2in
Sold for
US$ 35,850
inc. premium
Footnotes
- Ex-Robert Gallegos Collection, Albuquerque, New Mexico. Ex-Morning Star Gallery, Santa Fe, New Mexico. Ex-Elkhart Collection, Santa Fe, New Mexico.
See Harlow, Two Hundred Years of Historic Pueblo Pottery: The Gallegos Collection, Plate 39, A Polychrome Olla, Trios Culture, circa 1840, with similar shape and style.
This jar makes a bold statement with spare and simple design structure. The earlier date for this example is indicated by several features. The form of the vessel is more spherical, with broadly rounded underbody. The design style is also different, being more geometric instead of naturalistic. Each of the design elements can be compared with extensive evolutionary charts of the Zia pueblo designs, with the conclusion that they fit well in the style of the middle 1800s. The isolated split leaves, for example, are not attached to foliage with stems and flowers the way they are in the later decades of the 1800s. The double undulating red bands around the circumference are an early ancestor to the rainbow arcs seen on many of the Acoma pots in this folio. The symbols on the neck represent highly stylized bird feathers. The red banding below the design area does not show on the picture of this jar, because of the only slight contrast between the band and the polished red clay body (which is also visible in an abrasion on the tan-slipped surface).
Category: Ethnographic Art / Native American
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