About the Object

This three-color San Ildefonso polychrome pot features white slip with black and red painted decoration. The all-over-designed pot has a bulbous shape with its elongated neck that leads up to an outward rim and its swelling mid-body. In between the neck and shoulder are framing lines that split up the two black and red zigzagging bands. Near the rim are black scallops capped with red triangles; inside the rim is a black striped band. The body of the jar consists of two likely plant forms. Hanging downward is a black plant with two leaves and a center that may be a seed pod; the other plant form at the base of the pot has black and red leaf forms.

Additional Information

The addition of the striking red color to the pot’s painted decoration highlights the development of polychrome painting that became popular around the mid 19th century when the tourist trade in the Southwest grew and new Pueblo artisans began re-experimenting with decoration.