A Zia Polychrome Pictorial Jar

circa 1900, with small concave base, sharply flaring walls and slightly raised neck, painted in orange and dark brown against a white slip, with a frieze of birds amongst flowering branches, the darkened rim surmounting scalloped and parallel bands; probably the work of Reyes Galvan.

Francis H. Harlow and Dwight P. Lanmon, The Pottery of Zia Pueblo, 2003, p. 259, fig. 14.4, illustrated

A number of pots demonstrate Reyes Galvan's (K’aamuyeits’a) wide range of decorating styles and document her varied artistic productivity. Birds are frequent motifs, and they include both parrots and Zia birds. On her Zia birds, tails are typically defined by three straight feathers with rounded ends or bifurcated with pointed ends. The wings are either split wing or separate, outlined ovals. The heads have large eyes, split beaks, hairlike fringes or boldly notched topknots. The plants have solid or split-oval leaves, with multiple berries along the stems which may terminate in paired ovals. There may be feathers with hatchured caps below the rim and above the underbody, and elaborately cross-hatched elements may be used as design fillers.

Other pots include birds with diamond forms on their breasts, which are further decorated with a row of medial dots, sometimes flanked by a pair of larger dots. (Harlow and Lanmon, 2003, pp. 258 – 259).