Zia Pueblo Exquisite Olla with Impeccable Documentation [SOLD]

Here is a great Zia Pueblo olla by a documented potter and with excellent provenance. Reyes Herrera is well documented in the book on Zia pottery by Harlow and Lanman and this jar is actually published in that same book on page 273.  It is identified as the work of Herrera, photographed in 1922.

The jar is thin walled and stone polished and features multiple male and female deer or elk, with one in each group either facing the opposite direction or climbing a hill.  Most unusual are the two climbing the cliff, or, in this case, climbing the orange stepped design.  The jar has a fire cloud on one side.

The potter, Reyes Ansela Shije Herrera was the mother of famous painter Velino Herrera, known as MaPeWi.  Matilda Coxe Stevenson (c.1887) considered her to be one of the two best potters at Zia.  She received two prizes at the 1924 Santa Fe Market.

In 2003, the current owner sent a photograph of the jar to famous pottery expert Francis H. Harlow who concurred that it is the same jar illustrated in the Zia book published by Harlow and Lanmon.  A copy of Harlow's letter will accompany the sale of the jar.

Condition:  The jar is in excellent condition.

Provenance:  Gifted to Salvatore Scarpitta Sr. in 1922 from Edgar Lee Hewett, a prominent archaeologist in Santa Fe, upon completion by Scarpitta of a bronze sculpture of Hewett.  It was then passed down to Salvatore Scarpitta, Jr., who then gifted it to his wife, the current owner.

Recommended Reading:  The Pottery of Zia Pueblo by Harlow and Lanmon