Kewa Pueblo Polychrome Olla With Birds [SOLD]

This jar dates to the late 1800s, perhaps 1880.  It is a traditional Kewa jar made for home use by the potter and it displays wear from use on the interior. The birds are elegant, standing upright and proud, and have beautiful tail feathers.  There is no division of design area at the neck of the vessel but the entire cream-slipped area was devoted to design.  The rim is black with a ceremonial line break.  There are two concentric framing lines at the base of the design, each with a ceremonial line break.  There is a wide red band on the interior of the neck and one under the lower framing lines.

One could spend hours describing the beauty of this jar— the vessel shape with its wide body and graceful neck and rim, the extraordinary birds and exotic floral design that separates the birds, and the gorgeous patina that developed over the many decades—but it is not necessary as those elements speak for themselves.  The jar is a classic example of nineteenth-century Santo Domingo pottery.

Condition: this Kewa Pueblo Polychrome Olla With Birds is in very good condition with ethnographic wear and wonderful patina

Provenance: from a gentleman from Santa Fe

Recommended Reading: Pottery of the Pueblos of New Mexico 1700-1940 by Jonathan Batkin

Relative Links: Southwest Indian Pottery, Kewa-Santo Domingo Pueblo, Historic Pueblo Pottery