Historic Well-used 19th-century Polychrome Jar [SOLD]]

According to Jonathan Batkin* there is very little historic pottery from Pojoaque Pueblo for study. He says that Stevenson collected some in 1880, but the few pieces he collected were culinary ware. He further states that John G. Bourke stated in 1880 that there was scarcely any pottery there.

Hedges & Dittert** describe two jars from the 1912 Pueblo Pottery Collections of Wesley Bradfield and Thomas W. Dozier, located at the San Diego Museum of Man, as Powhoge Polychrome, Pojoaque (?) Variety, circa 1800-1850.

Their comments on one jar: "The illustrated jar is difficult to identify.  While the basic design layout resembles Kiua Polychrome, the paste has large pieces of micaceous schist which would indicate a northern source in the vicinity of Pojoaque.  The cross-hatching and dots appear to come out of the Sakona and previous Cuyamungue styles of decoration, which would be consistent with a Pojoaque origin."

The two jars illustrated by Hedges & Dittert contain generally the same design elements as this jar. If Hedges and Dittert are correct, then it is quite possible that this is a Powhoge Polychrome Pojoaque Variety, circa mid-1800s jar.  As they also suggested, the basic design layout resembles Kiua Polychrome, which means that the origin could be Cochiti Pueblo. 

There is significant slip wear around the neck and shoulder of this jar, a trait that leads one to accept a mid-1800s date and acknowledge that this jar received serious long-term use at the pueblo before being sold. It is a marvelous example of a jar of significant ethnographic significance, and quite possibly an extremely rare jar as well.

Condition: structurally in very good condition with evidence of significant ethnographic wear around the rim and shoulder.

Provenance: ex coll Alexander E. Anthony, Jr. (purchased in 1985 from a shop in Gallup, NM)

                         ex coll Tad Anderman (purchased from Adobe Gallery in 2008)

References:  *Pottery of the Pueblos of New Mexico 1700-1940 by Jonathan Batkin

                        **Heritage in Clay by Ken Hedges and Alfred E. Dittert, Jr.