Acoma Pueblo Polychrome Pottery Jar with Birds [SOLD]

When we received this jar recently and noted it was signed E.Lowden, we attempted to find out who she was as none of our references listed such a name.  We inquired of the Indian Pueblo Cultural Center in Albuquerque and were informed that her name was Elvina Lowden and she was the stepmother of Patricia Lowden.  That was a good start for us. We then checked Greg Schaaf’s book on Acoma artists and found a listing for Patricia Lowden who was born in 1960. From that, we assumed that her mother must have been born in the 1930s-40s era.  

The jar has a playful design which is somewhat unusual for potters at Acoma Pueblo.  There is a small flower in the center of the design from which stems and leaves expand outward.  Fat birds with no legs are intently studying the berries on the stems. Each bird has delicate tail feathers, straight beaks and a single feather for wings.

Surrounding this whole cheerful scene of flowers and birds is a chain executed in dark brown pigment that contains fine lines and more berries.  Separating the pair of fanciful designs are opposite matching geometric elements consisting of squares and triangles in dark brown pigment containing stepped elements in white.

The high shoulder of the jar and lack of separating the area of the neck from the body provided a larger area for exposing the design and allowing it to expand from the lower framing line up to the neck framing line, without interruption.

Condition: this Acoma Pueblo Polychrome Pottery Jar with Birds is in excellent condition

Provenance: from the inherited collection of a gentleman who travelled the reservations with his uncle for many years while his uncle collected from Native artists.  Now he has inherited his uncle’s collection.

Reference: Southern Pueblo Pottery 2,000 Artist Biographies by Gregory Schaaf