A Santa Ana Polychrome Jar

circa 1830, with small concave base, tall rounded sides and short tapering neck, painted over a worn chalky tan slip in red and outline black, with a broad frieze of tapering and curving positive and "negative" geometric elements, surmounted by a broad band of scalloped arches.

Sotheby's New York, November 1989, lot 81

For a discussion and related examples of Santa Ana pottery please see Larry Frank and Francis H. Harlow, Historic Pottery of the Pueblo Indians, 1600 – 1880, 1974, pp. 101-102: “…Ranchitos Polychrome became the first type to have unmistakable Santa Ana characteristics…. The transition from red to black rim tops occurred about 1765…. The trait that uniquely distinguishes all Santa Ana pottery from Zia pottery is the paste, and that is the most striking departure from Zia types. Santa Ana potters discovered that fine river sand is an excellent substitute for the crushed basaltic rock used at Zia to temper the clay, and it is a vastly easier material to prepare.

By about 1790 the style of Santa Ana decoration began to depart so strongly from that of Zia that recognition is usually easy even when the paste is not clearly visible. Especially characteristic are massive areas of red in the decoration, embellished by the inclusion of negative elements. These last are unpainted areas within the red, usually in the shape of crescents or semicircles. The negative elements are not edged with black at the juncture of red and white. A very similar style of decoration was employed briefly at Acoma and Laguna around 1800, but did not persist as at Santa Ana.

By the time this mode was established at Santa Ana, the potters were also decorating the necks of jars in crude imitation of Trios Polychrome, and the style… is known as Santa Ana Polychrome…. Many Santa Ana vessels of the nineteenth century are decorated with a variant of the “Eiffel Tower” motif, and this has become a characteristic Santa Ana feature.

At its best, there is a fresh clarity of design, a striking boldness that is quite pleasing, and a marked departure from some of the busier Pueblo styles. Also, the finest Santa Ana slip is warm in tone and attractive in appearance.”

Also see p. 114, fig. 114; School of American Research, cat. no. 2479/12,p. 115, fig. 115; Museum of New Mexico, cat. no. 24833/12, p. 115, fig. 116, each identified as Santa Ana.

Also see Francis H. Harlow, Two Hundred Years of Historic Pueblo Pottery: The Gallegos Collection, 1990, plate 58, for a very similar example: “The rather dark tan slip is…quite characteristic of Santa Ana pottery, especially for the first half of the 1800s. The massive red areas, often only partly edged in black, join with the simplicity in design and the bulbous jar form with short neck to characterize this…as a product of Santa Ana, although it should be mentioned that a small number of jars from that village made during the period 1800 – 1850 have quite complex and elaborate designs…the earlier pottery of Santa Ana can be strikingly bold in appearance, and handsome indeed.”