Cochiti Pueblo Historic Olla with Rainbow Designs [SOLD]

This is a superb olla from Cochiti Pueblo, dating to late 1800s, probably 1880s.   It is typically Cochiti in all technical aspects: crystalline-rock temper in the paste, stone-polished, bare-paste underbody, black rim top with red neck interior below the designed area, rag-wiped bentonite slip and black vegetal paints. Even without the specifics of construction and materials, this vessel is positively identifiable as Cochiti in origin.

The fantastic round shape of the pottery vessel, with its widest point at mid-body, suggests the form of many Cochiti jars. The black vegetal design motifs, painted in the traditional Cochiti style, reflect the loose, gestural, almost haphazard organic and free application.

The neck rolls outward in a graceful manner and is decorated with a line of connected cloud elements, leading upward from the shoulder where they are connected to the upper framing line.

The main body is undivided and features free floating arched rainbows with black clouds on their tops.  The entire design is divided by a ceremonial break from the rim through the lower framing lines. A wide red band was wiped on underneath the lower framing lines.

Condition:  very good condition, with no known repairs, and only a couple minor rim chips.

Provenance: this Cochiti Pueblo Historic Olla with Rainbow Designs is from the collection of a gentleman from Arizona

Recommended Reading: A River Apart: The Pottery of Cochiti & Santo Domingo Pueblos by Valerie Verzuh, et al.