Zuni Pueblo Transitional Kiapkwa Polychrome to Zuni Polychrome Jar [SOLD]

This jar, dating to around 1870, is described as occurring during the transitional period between Zuni pottery defined as Kiapkwa Polychrome, which was made between 1760 and 1860, and Zuni Polychrome which was made starting around 1860 and continued to today. The middle of the 19th century saw changes occurring in Zuni pottery designs. Potters began to experiment with new designs that were more elaborate than previous ones. More surface of the vessel was filled with designs than previously.

In transitional Kiapkwa Polychrome to Zuni Polychrome jars, the main body design was generally divided into two wide panels and two narrow panels, each divided by a wide vertical band. This jar is a typical Kiapkwa Polychrome to Zuni Polychrome transitional period jar-that is, it probably dates to 1870. The deer began to appear on the main body designs during the Kiapkwa Polychrome period in the 1840s and continued into the Zuni Polychrome eras.

The designs are of two types. There are four heartline deer in the wider panel. Each deer is in its own house. The heartline is the red arrow going from the deer's mouth to its heart. It represents the breath of life. The vertical panel is filled with stepped rectangles and triangles, each filled with black parallel lines which generally represent rain. Legend states that a water jar with rain symbols will never be empty of water. The neck design is a line of crooks hooked together, also filled with rain symbols. The design panel of four deer and its adjacent vertical panel are again repeated on the jar.

This jar is an excellent example of the period when Zuni Pueblo potters expressed their individual artistic expressions.

Condition: very good condition

Provenance: this Zuni Pueblo Transitional Kiapkwa Polychrome to Zuni Polychrome Jar is from the collection of a client of the gallery

Reference: The Pottery of Zuni Pueblo by Dwight P. Lanmon and Francis H. Harlow, Museum of New Mexico Press, Santa Fe, 2008

TAGS: Zuni Pueblo, Pueblo Pottery