Santa Clara vintage olla 9.5 h. x 11" wide shoulder [P2201]
Santa Clara vintage olla 9.5 h. x 11" wide shoulder [P2201]
This delightful Santa Clara Pueblo vintage blackware olla is approximately 9.5” tall with an 11” wide shoulder and 6.5” wide rim. This Santa Clara potter was skilled. She created the olla with several characteristics making it more desirable than common vintage blackware ollas: (1) she enhanced the shoulder with a distinctive, time-consuming design consisting of slanted, finger-wide hash indentations approximately every 3” around the entire shoulder; (2) her olla has a balanced shoulder, neck and rim, with the out-flaring rim being well-shaped and centered. Her olla is only slightly off center, perhaps as the result of the olla bottom having been sanded down a bit to provide a more level bottom surface. More common vintage ollas produced for the tourist trade frequently are off-center, lop-sided, with irregular rims, and have NO designs on the olla shoulder.
Price $1750 POR. SALE $995 + insured ship to 50 states + DC. “POR” means you must CALL 703-801-2565 to discuss purchase and ship options. A purchase of this item canNOT be done online.
Authenticity Guarantee. Santa Clara Pueblo vintage blackware olla, approximately 9.5” high with an 11” wide shoulder and 9.5” wide rim. [P2201]
Condition. Blacklight exam revealed NO hairline or other cracks; NO rim chips or cracks; NO repairs. The unslipped, bare areas of the olla base indicate that originally it was probably slightly lop-sided, but the olla base was sanded/shaved some to make the olla sit straight. The olla body has slip blemishes typical for a vintage blackware olla—see photos. Photo close-ups also show areas with visible tiny white temper specks showing through the black slip, especially in the olla lower body below the shoulder. Visible white temper is common in old Santa Clara blackware with polished slip.
Comments. This olla’s wide shoulder, high neck and out-flaring rim are characteristics of Santa Clara ollas dating as early as 1900-1920. However, we do not have proof in the form of definitive, reliable provenance on its potter, collection, or production date. So it is possible this olla was created at a later date by a potter replicating the characteristics of Santa Clara ollas from the early 20th Century. That’s why we only guarantee it as vintage, although it may well have been created in the first quarter of the 20th Century. Regardless, it is a beautiful old Santa Clara olla that indicates the potter was skilled and committed to producing a higher quality, well-balanced olla with distinctive design enhancements of the shoulder. Those shoulder enhancements not only took more time to execute, but also increased the risk of bad results during pottery firing. Those shoulder design enhancements put this olla in a higher class than the common plain, lop-sided, blackware ollas produced for the tourist trade.