Historic Zuni Pueblo Small Polychrome Heartline Deer Jar [SOLD]

This is an exceptional early twentieth century Zuni Pueblo olla that has possibly seen some use at the pueblo. As is typical of Zuni polychrome pottery after 1850, the vessel shape is somewhat squat, resulting in a slight enlargement of the mid-body.

On the neck the decoration is quite elaborate. Note the stylized bird with its arrowhead body squeezed into a brown triangle. Adjacent to the bird element, within the rectangular block are brown outlines containing red parallel lines. The red parallel lines represent rain. Pueblo beliefs are that water jars are linked to rain. Invariably a potter will put some rain elements in the decoration.

The main body of the vessel has a single row of heartline deer above a row of brown outline triangles and brown volute elements, below which is the brown bottom with a concave indentation. The vessel exhibits some wear around its rim, which consists only of some of the brown paint being worn off. There has been some repair at one point of the rim.

Provenance: from the collection of a family from Wyoming

Recommended Reading: The Pottery of Zuni Pueblo by Francis Harlow and Dwight Lanmon