The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of March 29, 2024

Water Jar (Olla)

Water Jar (Olla)

1920s

Description

Acoma Pueblo is known in part for pottery covered with white slip (clay slurry) and painted with contrasting dark designs. Here a geometric motif alternates with another that may represent an abstract bird, its tail and outspread wings rendered as stepped silhouettes filled with parallel lines. The name of the jar’s creator, perhaps a member of the Histia pottery family, is unknown because most Acoma artists signed their wares only after 1950, a concession to the art market that diverges from admired Pueblo values of modesty and communality.
  • Cleveland Museum of Art, and Jenifer Neils. The World of Ceramics: Masterpieces from the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland: Museum in cooperation with Indiana University Press, 1982. Mentioned and reproduced: P. 81, no. 86
  • The World of Ceramics: Masterpieces from the Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (June 20-August 22, 1982).
  • {{cite web|title=Water Jar (Olla)|url=false|author=Histia family?|year=1920s|access-date=29 March 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1937.897