Zia Pueblo Four-Color Polychrome Olla with Birds [R]

This is a superb historic polychrome jar created most probably between 1890 and 1900. This fine vessel is coil-formed in native clay with the addition of traditional Zia paste temper, crushed basaltic lava. The concave base and underbody are stone-polished bare paste with a red band at the top of the underbody, with the neck interior red slipped with a black rim.

The design field is divided into two quadrants—one above the shoulder and one below. The upper quadrant, or neck design, consists of a series of triangles filled with parallel lines, each capped by a pair of arcs with three parallel lines extending upward from the arcs, above which is a continuous band of clouds encircling the neck.

The main body design consists of four stepped elements, each forming an arch. Within two of the arches are exquisite birds and within the other two are arrowheads. The division between the arches consists of orange triangles containing three white triangles each. (Could this be where the Atomic Energy Commission got its “radiation” symbol?)

There has been some minor professional repair and restoration of the jar. A small rim chip was repaired, as was a vertical crack from the rim to the shoulder. An area encompassing one of the birds has had some touch-up paint. There apparently was some slip missing in that area. Structurally, the jar is in excellent condition and the visual impact is astonishing.

Recommended Reading: The Pottery of Zia Pueblo by Francis Harlow, et al.