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Olla

Culture
San Ildefonso Pueblo artist
Date
c.1900
Material
Ceramic and pigment
made in
San Ildefonso Pueblo, New Mexico, United States, North and Central America
Classification
Ceramics, containers
Collection
Arts of Africa, Oceania, and the Americas
Current Location
Not on view
Dimensions
10 1/4 × 12 1/2 in. (26 × 31.8 cm)
Credit Line
Museum Purchase
Rights
Public Domain
Object Number
92:1942
NOTES
A series of thin double lines encompass this jar, establishing two discrete zones for painting. At center, confident and gestural brushwork pushes the depiction of birds and plants to nearly abstract dimensions. The winged creature here is likely a hummingbird, represented in a style practiced at San Ildefonso and Tesuque, neighboring Pueblo settlements on the northern Rio Grande. Ceramic shaping and painting was historically the domain of women. In communities such as San Ildefonso, however, some men started to collaborate with women by painting vessels for the souvenir industry starting around 1900.
Eldodt Collection [1]

1929 - 1942
Denver Art Museum, Denver, CO, acquired by exchange at La Fonda, Santa Fe, NM [2]

1942 -
Saint Louis Art Museum, purchased from Denver Art Museum [3]


Notes:
[1] A Denver Art Museum catalog card dated January 18, 1929 identifies this object was acquired through an "exchange by McMechen for blankets at La Fonda, Santa Fe." The catalog card also documents this object was part of the "Eldodt collection" [copy in SLAM document files]. "Eldodt collection" may refer to Samuel Eldodt (1848–1925), a merchant at Ohkay Owingeh (San Juan Pueblo). "McMechen" likely refers to Edgar Carlisle McMechen (1884–1953), former curator at Denver Art Museum.

[2] See Note [1].

[3] An invoice dated August 12, 1942 from the Denver Art Museum documents the purchase of this object, listed as "San Ildefonso water jar" [SLAM document files]. Minutes of the Administrative Board of Control of the City Art Museum, August 6, 1942.
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