Historic Zia Pueblo Monochrome Design OLLA [SOLD]

This historic pottery jar is a striking example of a turn of the last century OLLA from Zia Pueblo.  It is large in size and bold in design.

This magnificent jar features designs of dark clouds and powerful rain, a quite fitting theme for a water jar.  Potters often place water symbols on water jars as a talisman that the jar will never be empty of water. The design around the neck, around the shoulder and around the lower section are interlocking spirals.  Their chain-like connections symbolize continuity, perhaps continuous water supply in the jar. This Zia Pueblo jar dates to circa 1900. The lack of any red pigment in the design is somewhat unusual during this period.

In the late 1800s, there appears to have been a renaissance in pottery decorations.  The more strict trend of sameness began to change into a period of new patterns or new arrangements of old patterns—a wide-ranging period of freedom for artistic exploration.  This was short lived in that sameness appeared again in the 1920s with the use of the Zia bird on almost all OLLAs. Perhaps that was an attempt to establish a symbol that would be recognized as belonging to Zia exclusively—an appeal to the tourist market.

Water jars are porous, which allows water to soak through the walls, thus cooling the water on the interior through evaporation.  The taste of water from such a jar is most refreshing. After a jar has been used for water storage for a number of years or a few decades, a calcium deposit is visible on the exterior, nature’s filter.

Condition: this Historic Zia Pueblo Monochrome Design OLLA is in very good condition with only minor abrasions to the painted surface

Provenance: from the collection of Eva H. Baird, who owned the Jemez Mountain Inn and Trading Post from 1932 to 1950, through a nephew.

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

Relative Links: Southwest Indian Pottery, Historic Pottery, Zia Pueblo