Zia Pueblo Late 19th Century Olla [SOLD]

Plant life designs on Zia Pueblo pottery apparently appeared around 1860 in a simplified form.  The first elements to appear were split leaves as shown here in the four split leaves that form an X pattern around the body of the vessel.  A very similar jar with split leaves but with no flowers was collected in 1880 and is housed in the Museum of Indian Art and Culture in Santa Fe.  It was not until around 1885, that other forms of plant life were added. Berries, flowers, leaves and stems appeared sometimes in conjunction with birds.

This jar has split leaves and flowers without stems or berries, only the flower petals themselves as if floating on the cream field.  Several jars and bowls with floral elements were collected for the Smithsonian in 1888 and for the American Museum of Natural History in 1899 and again in 1911.  This jar, which dates to the mid-1880s escaped the collectors from the museums. It was perhaps already in private hands or maybe in use at the pueblo and not available to the museum collectors.

Condition: some ladle wear around rim and one rim chip, otherwise in very good condition.  Such evidence of use is not detrimental to the value of pottery.  It is perhaps an asset.

Provenance: originally from the collection of Alexander E. Anthony, Jr

                     Now from the collection of a gentleman from Colorado

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