Antique Zia Polychrome Water Jar Style Vessel

This interesting Zia jar is an example of the artistic explosion of individual expression in southwestern Pueblo pottery that happened in the late 19th into the early 20th century. This was in response to the new tourist market hungry for souvenirs that was transported to New Mexico on the Santa Fe Railroad. The decoration exhibits a impactful graphic design that is purely the invention of the once known individual artist. The upper portion of the jar features an angular red band that is folded around the top of the piece against a buff ground. Bisected black triangles flank the red band & fine lines emanate from the triangles. We can date this jar to the 1920's, when they had just begun to polish the red bases of their jars. You can see the artist left an unpolished strip of red just below the lines dividing the base from the decorative frieze on the upper portion of the jar, the "Keresan band", which was a new fashion in the 1920's. The base is concave, in the ancient style of the water jars used to carry water balanced atop a woman's head. I have seen similar small vessels with a concave base called children's water jars; however, given the small size it seems more plausible that they were made in this fashion for sale to the burgeoning tourist trade, which admired large water jars but purchased smaller items to carry home as mementos or gifts. This was built using coils of local clay mixed with the tell tale crushed black volcanic rock (basalt) of Zia pueblo as temper. The artist painted the surface with mineral or vegetal based paints & polished the red base. They put a break in the line at the top of the pot, a "spirit line" detail. They would have pit fired this outside. The jar measures approx 4.75" H x 6.25" W x 6.25" D.  It shows some wear to the painted finish commensurate with age but has no chips, cracks or structural damage. There is an absence of the whitish calcium carbonate residue we see on jars that have been used to contain water, but it shows some wear from handling over a century. This unique piece is a little window into the past & a piece of abstract art that stands on it's own!

Excellent condition commensurate with age.

PP