Adobe Gallery Blog
Historic Acoma Pueblo Polychrome Jar with Unusual Birds - 25898
Acoma potters generally present a design in one of two different manners. One is to use the entire vessel as a single canvas with no distinction between the rim, shoulder and body of the vessel, that is, the design expands over the shoulder and to the rim without divination. The other manner is to draw a framing line at the shoulder and then treat the neck design and body design as separate entities.
This jar has a design covering the entire surface with no division at the shoulder. There are basically two design styles to this jar. All of the elements in brown constitute the design in geometric terms-triangles, scrolls, rectangles, circles and lines. The other design features birds presented in orange slip, outlined in brown. Most often, Acoma birds used on pottery are parrots, but this potter chose a beaked bird with a fancy top knot on its head and wings that are separated completely from the body. If one searched thoroughly it might be possible to find documented examples of a bird of this style but I have not before seen one with the wings completely separated from the body.