A Rare Acomita Polychrome Jar

circa 1810, of classic domed form, with convex base, short flaring underbody and a high rounded shoulder, painted in red and black against a white slip, with a series of stylized feather motifs, each centering a diamond-shaped medallion enclosing a checkerboard motif, the vertical neck decorated with a scalloped band.

For related examples and a discussion of Acomita pottery please see Francis H. Harlow, Two Hundred Years of Historic Pueblo Pottery: The Gallegos Collection, 1990, plates 15, 16, 30 and 31.

Also see Rick Dillingham, Acoma and Laguna Pottery, 1992, pp. 30 - 31, figs. 2.6 and 2.7; p. 79, fig. 4.10; pp. 92 – 93, figs. 5.8 and 5.9; p. 135, fig. 6.5; p. 138, fig. 6.6., p. 136 – 137: “The typical Acomita jar is heavy in construction and very thick, with a short neck, squared-off rim (which was easier to make than the earlier sculpted rims), short outflaring underbody, and convex base. In many cases, rim exteriors are decorated with a simple, open or solid scalloped arc motif. A strong puki flexure is common, giving way to a smoother profile in the later phase of the type (1840 – 1860); the puki flexure is used as the demarcation between the underbody (base) and body (area of design field) of these vessels.

There is greater variety in the form of Acomita jars than in that of their predecessors: they may be squat, round or tall in profile. The squat form follows the transition from Ako to Acomita, while the other two shapes are typical during the later manifestations of the type. Earlier examples carry over the domed or mushroom shape, though with time, the dome shifts to a lower center, and a rounded or squared profile prevails. A primary distinguishing feature of Acomita jars is their short vertical – or occasionally outflaring – neck, clearly an evolution of the vertical lip on late Ako Polychrome jars. As a rule, rims are black, but rare exceptions with red rims do exist.

On early Acomita Polychrome jars, the neck is undecorated, and framing lines are painted at the juncture of neck and body. These can be two fine black lines, a red unbordered band of slip, or heavy black bands. By about 1800, the neck was most often decorated with a band of solid arcs or triangle motifs, which may have been inspired by the Zia and Santa Ana wares. Later Acomita Polychrome jars are more fluid in profile and have fewer flexures in the construction. They also tend to be less heavy, and their necks are taller and slope inward toward the mouth. The arc motif continued to be used up until the transition to early Acoma Polychrome.

Early Ako-Acomita transitional pieces have simple modified feather patterns with scroll elements; later pieces feature the bird motifs commonly associated with later Acoma pottery. In earlier examples, the white-slipped area is used as a field for decoration and much “negative” space is left undecorated; in the later examples, geometric designs divide and redivide the space until they completely absorb the design field, making the white-slipped areas a design element in themselves. On early Acomita wares, red-slipped areas contain unbordered design elements such as ellipses, half-circles, circles and crescents, which are strongly associated with the pottery of Santa Ana, and the “rainbird” motif, an elaborate scroll, makes a vigorous appearance.”