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Olla (water jar)
Native American, Tesuque Pueblo
about 1850–70
Object Place: Tesuque, New Mexico, United States, Southwest
Medium/Technique
Earthenware with slip paint
Dimensions
Overall: 28.6 cm (11 1/4 in.)
Diam.(Overall): 26.7 cm (10 1/2 in.)
Diam.(Overall): 26.7 cm (10 1/2 in.)
Credit Line
Gift of The Seminarians
Accession Number1994.228
NOT ON VIEW
CollectionsAmericas
ClassificationsCeramics – Pottery – Earthenware
DescriptionGlobular body with pronounced neck that flares slightly. Stone polished white ground covers 85% of vessel; red band and red clay on lower 15%. Black slip painting; double bands frame neck, which has within diagonally placed split feathers, tips touching upper and lower band and rotating around neck ground. Wide body area holds a pair of large whirling six armed seed-pod-like images on one side with a serpent-like stepped symbol moving horizontally on the other side; feather symbols are attached to the outer corners of the steps. The painting leaves a high percentage of open ground giving the feeling of symbols suspended in space.
ProvenanceJune 25, 1994, anonymous sale (auction 1589), Skinner, Bolton, MA, lot 118, to Charles S. Nichols (dealer), Boston; 1994, sold by Charles Nichols to the MFA. (Accession Date: October 26, 1994)