Large Black on Cream Aguilar Jar [SOLD]

The Aguilar sisters were recognized as master potters long before they created the bold black, and black and red designs we attribute to them today. Their first works were traditional Santo Domingo Polychrome in design and layout but were among the finest being produced at the pueblo in the late 1800s and very early 1900s. Their handling of the design style, their precision with paints, and the overall geometries were unequalled.

Pottery offers a smooth surface on which a curved line can be freely made, a wide choice of shapes, and a form and surface completed before the ornamentation is applied, instead of an unfinished object into which the design has to be worked while it is still in the making, as in basketry or textiles.

Eying a finished ceramic vessel, a potter must create in her mind the design she conceives as best for that vessel. In so doing, she must be accurate in her assessment, because once a stroke of the brush has laid on some paint; it cannot be erased, removed or changed. This vessel was expertly divided into three panels of decoration. The concave surface of the neck was designed with very traditional Kewa black triangles arranged in the shape of stars. The convex mid-body was boldly expressed with large round objects that were achieved by painting outlines in black, resulting in a negative concept. The lower body was decorated with kite-like elements alternately leaning right and left. All design panels were divided by double framing lines that exhibit ceremonial breaks at the same point.

The jar is larger than most of the Aguilar jars normally seen. Its tall elegant shape provided for expressing a much more bold design concept than smaller vessels would permit.

Condition: The surface of the jar is in excellent condition. There was a section of the rim that had broken out and it was replaced by a professional ceramic conservator. It is now in beautiful condition.