Zuni Olla with Volute Designs [SOLD]

Mastery of art does not spring up overnight out of nothing. Behind it is, not centuries, but thousands of years of development. At this present day, we have only to marvel at the ingenious talent of the pueblo women of the 19th century, or for that matter, even earlier, who spent untold hours of their precious time to create and apply a design to a jar that was going to serve the purpose of holding water in her home.

We do not know what drove the potter of yesteryear to express herself in applying beautiful designs to a well-made jar, but we do know that the age of the grand jars was in the 19th century. Following the arrival of the train in the southwest in 1880, the influence of curious travelers quickly drove down the quality and beauty of the Native’s work. The non-Indian visitor to the southwest was happy to select a small, poorly made piece of pottery to take back home and proudly display as a true ”Indian souvenir.”

The simplicity of design of this mid-19th century jar—a volute—repeated throughout the entire jar without other embellishments, demonstrates the artistic ability of some unknown, long gone artisan who possessed an innate ability to visualize how one single element, repeated over and over, would make a pattern that would enhance the voluminous size of the body of this jar. This is truly an extraordinary piece of art.