Native American, Southwestern USA, Colorado or New Mexico, Anasazi / Ancestral Puebloans, ca. 1100 to 1300 CE. This is a beautiful and large pottery olla water pitcher, with motifs painted in the Mesa Verde black-on-white style. The base is slightly concave and supports the dramatically widening body and broad shoulder. A pair of pinched lug handles flank the sides just below the shoulder and centered above is a cylindrical neck that flares slightly outward at the rim. This vessel was made by hand-coiling pottery, smoothing, then baking in an open-air fire. There are 2 main registers of repeating checkerboard and linear patterning in carbon black pigments on the chalky gray ground, which were significant to the maker or clan, and serve as a mesmerizing and lovely visual embellishment. Size: 15" Diameter x 14.5" H (38.1 cm x 36.8 cm)

Vessels from this tradition were made from a gray or white clay with angular fragments of temper and this one has a pearly gray-white slip that was then overpainted with a black pigment made from carbon. Largely, these were made by women who lived in cliff dwellings like those seen at Mesa Verde National Park.

Provenance: ex-Marilyn Eber Collection of Native American Art, Denver, Colorado, USA, acquired in 1985; ex-Gene Lang collection, Denver, Colorado, USA, collected between 1978 to 2000

All items legal to buy/sell under U.S. Statute covering cultural patrimony Code 2600, CHAPTER 14, and are guaranteed to be as described or your money back.

A Certificate of Authenticity will accompany all winning bids.

PLEASE NOTE: Due to recent increases of shipments being seized by Australian & German customs (even for items with pre-UNESCO provenance), we will no longer ship most antiquities and ancient Chinese art to Australia & Germany. For categories of items that are acceptable to ship to Australia or Germany, please contact us directly or work with your local customs brokerage firm.

Display stands not described as included/custom in the item description are for photography purposes only and will not be included with the item upon shipping.

#168486

Professionally repaired and restored from over a dozen pieces. Visible break lines on exterior and some chips and losses along these fissures. Chip and loss to rim. Surface abrasions and fading to pigments. Good preservation to painted motifs.