Art Institute of Chicago

Polychrome Jar

Pueblo of Acoma

1840–60

Attribution

Acoma Acoma Pueblo, New Mexico, United States

Medium

Ceramic and pigment

Physical dimensions

Approx: 29 × 31 cm (11 1/4 × 12 in.)

Credit line

African Art and Indian Art of the Americas Curatorial Discretionary and Leonard Florsheim funds; O. Renard Goltra and Arnold Crane endowments

From the museum

This jar, made between 1840 and 1860, stands at the beginning of a major rebirth of the Pueblo ceramic tradition after some 250 years of diminished innovation when the Pueblo world was part of the Spanish empire. Bold geometric motifs flow around the vessel’s surface in a seemingly random progression; however, the unknown artist duplicated the design on both sides, indicating that the decoration was carefully planned. Prominent among the motifs are blunt-end “fingers,” heart-shaped patterns, large spirals, and triangular elements. The artistic renewal starting in the mid-19th century soon included pottery from nearby Zuñi, and subsequently spread to other pueblos along the Rio Grande to the east and the Hopi mesas to the west. By the 1930s, the most creative impulses of this artistic movement were on the wane, although vessels of remarkable accomplishment continued to be made into the 20th century.

Description: Art Institute of Chicago · CC BY 4.0