Acoma Pueblo Depressed Rim Historic Pottery Jar with Tularosa Designs [SOLD]

This Acoma jar is unusual in that its neck rolls inward to the jar rather than rising upward.  The jar dates to circa 1920s. There is a 1935 photograph of Juanita Johnson of Acoma Pueblo published in The Pottery of Acoma Pueblo, by Harlow and Lanmon, on page 446.  The potter is seated on a blanket with several pieces of pottery, one of which is similar to this one.  There is an inset photograph of another jar that is identical to this one with the incurving rim and Tularosa design that is dated c.1920.  

A jar in the School for Advanced Research collection with a similar incurved rim and painted with an overall design of interlocking hachured and solid spirals imitating an ancient Tularosa spiral design is inscribed “first prize JJ”.  The JJ is identified as Juanita Johnson (b.1883/1891). That jar was purchased at an early Santa Fe Fiesta or perhaps at an early Gallup Ceremonial. It was donated to the Indian Arts Fund in 1925, but was most likely made earlier.

In the early 20th century, potters at Acoma Pueblo began using designs from ancient pottery of the Tularosa region of New Mexico.  Tularosa Black-on-white pottery existed from 1150 to 1325 A.D. Designs consisted of curvilinear and rectilinear opposed hachured and solid bands.  Using these ancestral designs fits well with the concept of adding ground-up potsherds to use as temper in new pottery. Every Acoma pot has a portion of a previous pot incorporated into its existence. Using ancestral designs is a complimentary act.

The Pueblo of Acoma is located about 45 miles west of Albuquerque and 16 miles south of Interstate 40.  The original village is perched on top of a mesa at an elevation of about 5000 feet above sea level and about 1000 feet above the surrounding ground level.  Nearby is Mount Taylor—sacred to the Native peoples—rising to eleven thousand feet above sea level. The village of Acoma exists somewhat in a time warp. Very little has changed atop the mesa.  The houses are adobe or rock, the streets are dirt, and there is no electricity available. Potters work in the same manner as those hundreds of years ago. It is a quiet and restful place to create pottery.  Many of the potters also live in the surrounding villages of Acomita and McCartys.

Condition: There was a lateral crack on the top curve which has been professionally restored. Some abrasions to surface as expected in a vessel of a hundred years of age.

Recommended Reading: The Pottery of Acoma Pueblo by Harlow and Lanmon

Provenance: this Acoma Pueblo Depressed Rim Historic Pottery Jar with Tularosa Designs was originally in the collection of Santa Fe poet, writer and scholar Witter Bynner (1881-1968) who moved to Santa Fe in 1922.  Purchased by the previous owner from Nat Owings Gallery, Santa Fe

Relative Links: Southwest Indian Pottery, Juanita Johnson, Historic Pottery, Acoma Pueblo