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Lot 141
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19th C. Papago (Tohono O'odham) Pottery Olla - Storage Jar
19th C. Papago (Tohono O'odham) Pottery Olla - Storage Jar
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Native American, Tohono O'odham (Papago), ca. 1880–1900 CE. A generously rounded earthenware olla built by the coil-and-scrape method, its globular body swelling to a broad shoulder before tapering to a short, flaring neck with a softly everted rim. The buff-to-salmon surface bears the warm tonal mottling characteristic of open-pit firing in the Sonoran Desert, where mesquite fuel imparted clouds of carbon smudging, here visible as a dark bloom on one shoulder. Faint traces of red mineral slip survive on the body, including a partial rectilinear motif near the neck, the ghost of a once-bolder geometric program that desert sun and household use have largely effaced.

Storage vessels of this scale served as the workhorses of Tohono O'odham domestic life, holding water, mesquite flour, saguaro syrup, or seed reserves within the ramada-shaded living quarters of villages across what is now southern Arizona and northern Sonora. Women potters, working without the wheel, raised these jars from native clays tempered with crushed sherd or sand, then burnished and lightly slipped them before firing. The form belongs to a long ceramic continuum stretching back through the Hohokam, the Papago's likely ancestors, and the bulbous silhouette with constricted neck reflects practical concerns: a narrow mouth slowed evaporation, while the wide shoulder maximized capacity.

By the late nineteenth century, such utilitarian wares were increasingly produced alongside tourist pieces, yet examples like this one retain the unselfconscious authority of objects made for use rather than display. Size: 8.5" D x 9.9" H (21.6 cm D x 25.1 cm H).

Provenance: private Arlington, Virginia, USA collection, acquired in June 2024 via Grant Zahajko Auctions, LLC, Davenport, Washington, USA; ex-Missoula, Montana, USA estate collection, acquired in 1966 via James Cross

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Item # 191984

  • Condition: Good. Chipping to rim and light surface wear in areas. Otherwise, intact and very nice with trace remains of decoration.

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by Artemis Fine Arts
June 25, 2026 9:00 AM MDT
686 S. Taylor Avenue
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Louisville, CO, US 80027

Artemis Fine Arts

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Bid Increments
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$300 $999 $50
$1,000 $1,999 $100
$2,000 $4,999 $250
$5,000 $9,999 $500
$10,000 $19,999 $1,000
$20,000 $49,999 $2,500
$50,000 $99,999 $5,000
$100,000 $199,999 $10,000
$200,000 + $20,000