Mata Ortiz (Mexico) Polychrome Jar with Birds [SOLD]

Special Value Offer: We have been authorized to offer this jar at a 20% reduction from the original price of $850 to a new price of $680.

Mata Ortiz is a village in the northwestern state of Chihuahua, Mexico.  Just north of the village is the town of Casas Grandes where is located the prehistoric pueblo of Paquimé, home of the famed Casas Grandes pottery.  Paquimé was designated as a World Heritage site by United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) in 1997. 

A young boy of age 15, inspired by the beautiful pottery of the prehistoric Paquimé villagers, began to experiment on his own, without the benefit of lessons, to recreate the beautiful pottery.  This was in 1955 and his name is Juan Quezada, a name associated with Mata Ortiz pottery today.  After 16 years of experimenting, he made his first polychrome pots.  By 1975, he was supporting his family through sales of his pottery.

In 1976, an anthropologist, Spencer McCallum, found three of Juan Quezada's pots in a shop in Deming, New Mexico.  Intrigued with them, he searched out the maker and found him in Mata Ortiz, Mexico.  McCallum, for the next seven and a half years, sponsored Quezada and introduced him to the world of pottery collectors.  The rest is beautiful history. 

Juan Quezada shared his knowledge with his fellow villagers and now there are several hundred potters at Mata Ortiz producing beautiful pottery.  This jar, which dates to the early period of Mata Ortiz pottery, was made, and is signed, by Armando Silveira. These earlier pottery vessels from Mata Ortiz were made in the likeness of the prehistoric Casas Grandes pottery.  The vessel shapes and coloration could easily pass them off as Casas Grandes wares, but most are signed by artists and that designates that they are the later wares from Mata Ortiz.

This large jar is decorated with birds and flute players in designs of red and black over a beige base.  It probably dates to the late 1970s, the early period of potters at Mata Ortiz making pottery.

Condition:  very good condition.

Provenance: from the collection of Katherine H. Rust 

Recommended Reading:  The Artistry and History of Mata Ortiz by Bezy and Scott