San Juan Pueblo Potsuwi’i Incised Revival Pottery Jar [SOLD]

San Juan Pueblo potters produced pottery of the same type for a thousand years or more without any significant changes to the style.  This pottery consisted of polished red slip over a tan clay body. When fired in reduction firing, it would turn to black over grey. By the end of the 19th century, production had practically ceased with only a few vessels being made for local use by very few potters.

Witnessing the popularity of pottery from other Tewa-speaking pueblos, potters at San Juan (now Ohkay Owingeh) Pueblo undertook a revival of pottery to sell to tourists and collectors and share in the monetary rewards in evidence at their neighboring pueblos.

To accomplish this, Regina Cata, in 1930, organized a pottery study group to determine a means of reviving pottery production. Eight potters studied ancient potsherds of wares made in northern Rio Grande pueblos in earlier times and selected Potsuwi’i Incised Ware (1450-1500) as a basis for a contemporary pottery type.  This style was ancestral pottery of Tewa-speaking pueblos, of which San Juan belongs, so they were selecting a style ancestral to their village.

Decorative zones of geometric fine lines with selected areas of polished red slip were the final result. At times, the red slip was eliminated in favor of just the natural beige clay.

This jar is a fine example of contemporary Potsuwi’i Incised Ware with limited stone polishing and no use of red slip. The entire vessel was constructed from the natural beige clay.  The incised area of the jar was left in a matte state and the rim and lower body were stone polished. The incised design was executed freehand with a sharp implement and micaceous slip was then painted into the incisions.

This new style was eagerly accepted by collectors and has remained the style representing the pueblo for the last 90 years.  The 19th century style of red-over-tan is still eagerly sought by serious collectors as representative of the pueblo’s pottery of the period.

Condition: this San Juan Pueblo Potsuwi'i Incised Revival Pottery Jar is in very good condition

Provenance: originally from a gentleman in Santa Fe. Now from the client to whom we sold it in 2014

Recommended Reading: Pueblo Pottery of the New Mexico Indians by Betty Toulouse

Relative Links: Southwest Indian Pottery, San Juan Pueblo, Ohkay Owingeh - Place of the Strong People, Contemporary Pottery