San Ildefonso jar with pictorial images of birds, squash blossoms, and another intriguing design...
stone polished
10 1/2" diameter by 8 3/4" high
excellent condition
circa 1880
(P0452)
$15,000.
This is a very unusual example of San Ildefonso stone-polished pottery. It has the shape of traditional Powhoge Polychrome from San Ildefonso and is most likely a rar early San Ildefonso jar dating to the 1880s.
Please note the 2ndimage to the right, which is a Tesuque pictorial jar from the Gallegos Collection (Harlow Francis H., Two
Hundred Years of Hstoric Pueblo Pottery: The Gallegos Collection (Morning Star Gallery: Plate 83, 1990). Harlow comments in his description of this jar that "the style of bird on this jar is characteristic of the Tewa villages in the late 1800s, with similar forms occurring at both San Ildefonso and Tesuque." That same style bird is shown whizzing around the rim of the San Ildefonso jar along with other birds.
This jar deserves further research in ensuing years. It is beautifully potted and painted and its designs intrigue us in their implications.
Marcy Burns American Indian Arts LLC
520 East 72nd Street, Suite 2C
New York, New York 10021
(by appointment only)
