Acoma Pueblo Olla with Tularosa-style Design [R]

Acoma Pueblo potters have claimed the inherited right to use designs of the earlier Puebloan groups that lived in the early Southwest. The inspired designs of particular striking beauty are those appropriated by 20^th-century Acoma potters and referred to as Tularosa Black-on-white. The original, prehistoric Tularosa vessels date from A.D.1100 to 1250.

The Tularosa Basin is located in the area east of the Rio Grande in southern New Mexico, mostly in Otero County. It lies between the Sacramento Mountains to the east and the San Andres and Oscura Mountains to the west. Notable features of the Tularosa Basin are White Sands National Monument, Trinity Site, and the Carrizozo lava flows.

This Acoma jar is an excellent example of the use of Tularosa patterning. The curvilinear scrolls that circumnavigate the mid body are flanked on the upper and lower extremities with rectangular and triangular stepped black-on-white designs. Throughout these designs are very fine hatching lines that fill the previously undecorated white areas. As was the Tularosa tradition, the design elements are close together, solids are heavy, and hatching lines are very fine.

This is one of the most attractive styles ever produced by the Acoma potters. As black and white photographs often are stronger in appeal than color photographs (see Ansel Adams), so too are some of the black and white pottery that is often overlooked by collectors in preference to three- and four-color examples. This jar is an excellent example to illustrate this point.

The jar is not signed with the name of a potter. Usually, this lack of a signature or the name Acoma on the underside would indicate dating to the 1940s or earlier.  By the 1960s, most Acoma potters were signing their names to their wares.

Condition:  very good condition with some minor spall areas professionally repaired.

Provenance: from a gentleman in Albuquerque

Recommended Reading: Acoma & Laguna Pottery by Rick Dillingham (1952-1994)