Zuni Pueblo 19th-century Polychrome Olla [R]

It is refreshing to see a Zuni Pueblo jar with designs predating the use of heartline deer and medallions.  This jar is very close in shape and design to one in the collection of the School for Advanced Research in Santa Fe which is dated ca. 1880.  (See Figure 12.22, The Pottery of Zuni Pueblo by Lanmon and Harlow). They are so similar that both could have been made by the same potter.

The hachure design on 19^th-century Zuni pottery is elegant and a follow-up to a style started during the early period of Kiapkwa Polychrome and was continued into the early Zuni Polychrome period.  The most famous of this style is known as the Rainbird design.  The black lines framing the hachured lines are thicker than the hachure lines and that seems to be consistent during this period. 

The stepped figures with black triangles from which the hachure lines fall are reminiscent of stylized bird designs seen on prehistoric Hopi Sikyatki pottery.  Lanmon and Harlow have named these elements Cadre-Figure Heads.  Perhaps they represent birds or perhaps not.  The spiral elements that share the design area with the above do have round eyes and the spiral could represent the beak of a bird.  The meanings of pueblo pottery designs from the 19^th century are left to speculation as today's potters do not seem to know what they mean if there is a meaning. 

The neck design features capped spiral motifs with hachure lines as a predominant feature within the spiral.  The rim is black as is the underbody.  A pair of framing lines below the design area does not feature ceremonial breaks but the pair just below the rim does.   

This is a rare and beautiful Zuni Polychrome jar from the late 1800s and is one that would be an asset to any collection.

Condition:  UV examination reveals that there has been some conservation of cracks in several areas of the jar but there does not appear to be any replacement plaster.  It appears that only cracks were fixed and minor over-paint in those areas.

Provenance: from a gentleman in Albuquerque

Recommended Reading: The Pottery of Zuni Pueblo by Dwight Lanmon and Francis Harlow