Acoma Black on White Design Jar by Mary Histia [SOLD]

For over a hundred years, the famous Adam Clark Vroman photograph of an Acoma woman holding a beautiful jar, which is labeled “Acoma Mary holding olla, 1900,” was thought to be of Mary Histia. Because of the photograph, she has been called “Acoma Mary” but the caption was meant to be the location at Acoma and a potter named Mary, not Acoma Mary, but Acoma, Mary . . .

In 2013, a book, The Pottery of Acoma Pueblo by Dwight Lanmon and Francis Harlow, stated that the photograph is not Mary Histia, but a photograph of Mary Concho Brown.  They did publish two photographs of Mary Histia in the same book. This has nothing to do with the jar in this presentation, only information to clarify the confusion on photographs of Mary Histia.

The black on white design on this jar has previously been identified as a design by Mary Histia.  The vessel thinness is consistent with known examples of Histia’s work and the preciseness of the painted design certainly follows her known quality of work.  It appears safe to say that this unsigned jar was made by Mary Histia of Acoma, probably in the mid-twentieth century.

Condition: this Acoma Black on White Design Jar by Mary Histia is in very good condition.

Provenance: from the Southwest Indian Pottery collection of a family from Colorado

Reference: Lanmon, Dwight P. and Francis H. Harlow. The Pottery of Acoma Pueblo, 2013:442

Image of Mary Histia courtesy of the Jeffrey Trent Collection.