Warm, funky, wonderful jar, stone polished and a little cattywampus. Birds have crazy wings and crazier tails. On the bottom is written in pencil: “From Aunt Mary, made by Tausuki Indians, a small tribe living near Santa Fe, NM, Sept. 1909”. Also a note inside explains that Aunt Mary, born around 1850, was a missionary in the southwest and Alaska. She gifted this jar to the mother of Ms. Phyllis Tull of Chicago in Sept. 1909. So is it a San Ildefonso polychrome as it appears to be despite the rather not-San Ildefonso-looking birds or from Tesuque from where Aunt Mary says she acquired it? Also, the neck designs suggest a Santo Domingo influence as well. How historic pueblo potters came to be aware of ceramic designs from other pueblos is an ongoing mystery. In other words, this is one of my favorite jars.
Condition: excellent, original, unrestored
Provenance: From the collection of Mac Grimmer, Santa Fe, NM