About the Object

This three-color Cochiti polychrome olla features white slip with black and red painted decoration. This great oval-shaped water jar is comprised of a high red base, neck pattern, and multiple panels of decoration. The main panel of discussion is a design that includes cloud, rain, lightning, and water-bird motifs. Throughout the landscape are cloud banks, with two of them sprouting above plant stems. Underneath the center cloud bank are rain lines (hachures) and crisscrossing rain lines to indicate lightning or rainstorms. A water-bird, or possibly a parrot, stands to the right.

Additional Information

The Pueblo of Cochiti, better known as Ko-Tyit, is an aboriginal homeland located in north central New Mexico. As a traditional nation, the Pueblo people maintain their way of life and continue to preserve their identity through the practice of their beliefs, cultivation of land, and inventive artistic expressions such as pottery.