Black-on-cream Design Polychrome Aguilar Jar [R]

Pottery offers a smooth surface on which a curved line can be freely made, a wide choice of shapes can be chosen, and a form and surface completed before the ornamentation is applied, instead of an unfinished object into which the design has to be worked while it is still in the making, as in basketry or textiles.

Eying a finished ceramic vessel, a potter must create in her mind the design she conceives as best for that vessel. In so doing, she must be accurate in her assessment, because once a stroke of the brush has laid on some paint; it cannot be erased, removed or changed.

The Aguilar sisters were very adept at designing their jars. They were master potters and painters long before collectors were ready for something as creative and out of the norm as their works. They produced designs that were almost totally black with fine lines of cream slip showing through, designs that incorporated strong use of black and red over the cream slip, and designs that were more in line with traditional black over cream Santo Domingo tradition.

This jar is an excellent example of their fine work. It was among the finest being produced at Santo Domingo in the late 1800s and very early 1900s. Their handling of the design style, their precision with paints, and the overall geometries of the layout are far beyond the typical products of that time. The designs are simple but extremely bold. That seems to be a key to their identity.

The design was placed in three horizontal bands separated by double framing lines that are penetrated through its entirety by a ceremonial break. The neck flares out gracefully and is painted red on its interior. The rim is black. Below the design area the jar is painted red with a 1-1/2 inch red band wiped on at the division of the design and underbody.

The condition of the vessel is excellent with only one small rim chip in existence. The condition of the paint is also excellent with only minor scratches that are to be expected in a jar of this age.

Publication Available: A limited quantity of the following Adobe Gallery exhibit catalog from the August 2003 exhibit of Aguilar pottery is available at no charge upon request.