Polychrome Zia Olla with Birds and Double Rainbows [R]

This is a superb polychrome jar created most probably between 1900 and 1910. This fine vessel is coil-formed in native clay with the addition of traditional Zia paste temper, crushed basaltic lava. The concave base and underbody are stone-polished bare paste with a red band at the top of the underbody, with the neck interior red slipped with a black rim.

The designs employed by the potter contain traditional Zia elements supplemented with her individual creations. I could not find an example in the Harlow and Lanmon book of the “ railroad tracks” that encircle the jar just below the rim, nor did I find an example of the black “bat wing” elements enclosing the polychrome birds. These are individual artistic creations of this potter. Perhaps someday, these elements will be associated with the potter’s name.

The stepped designs above the polychrome bird, the bat wing designs previously mentioned and the tracks around the rim, all contribute to setting this jar aside as being recognizably Zia in origin, but different enough not to fall into the category of ordinary Zia pottery. It is a piece that is far from ordinary and is a very special jar.

There is one dime-size spot in the cream slip near the tail of the brown bird that appears to have had some restoration. It looks like that area received a blow and perhaps a small piece of the clay popped out. The restoration of this spot appears to be the only repairs to the vessel. There is slight abrasion to the slip, but nothing significant, and a very small rim chip confined to the interior rim of the vessel. The jar appears to have been used as a water jar before appearing on the commercial market.