Skip Navigation

Olla (Water Jar)

Arts of the Americas

Working in Po-Woh-Geh-Owingeh (San Ildefonso Pueblo), at the foot of the Black Mesa in north-central New Mexico, Maria Martínez invented a unique style of pottery featuring black-on-black designs, building on lessons learned from her maternal aunt’s use of clay.

Instead of a traditional potter’s wheel, Martínez adapted the bottom of an old plate or pot to form the base of the olla, utilizing hand-coiling techniques to build up its walls, a rounded piece of gourd to smooth its surface, stones to polish it, and finally, clay and boiled wild spinach plants to add designs before firing. Despite the lack of glazing, the burnished surface reflects light, throwing the matte abstract forms into subtle contrast.
MEDIUM Ceramic
DATES ca. 1923
DIMENSIONS overall: 7 × 9 3/4 in. (17.8 × 24.8 cm)  (show scale)
SIGNATURE The base has the artist’s signature, “Marie”. The accession number is painted in red with a clear barrier layer on the base.
COLLECTIONS Arts of the Americas
ACCESSION NUMBER 2013.100.4
CREDIT LINE Gift of Graham and Megan Marks in memory of Barbara and Fred Marks
MUSEUM LOCATION This item is not on view
CAPTION Maria Martinez (ca. 1887–1980). Olla (Water Jar), ca. 1923. Ceramic, overall: 7 × 9 3/4 in. (17.8 × 24.8 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Gift of Graham and Megan Marks in memory of Barbara and Fred Marks, 2013.100.4. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: , 2013.100.4_PS9.jpg)
IMAGE overall, 2013.100.4_PS9.jpg., 2019
"CUR" at the beginning of an image file name means that the image was created by a curatorial staff member. These study images may be digital point-and-shoot photographs, when we don\'t yet have high-quality studio photography, or they may be scans of older negatives, slides, or photographic prints, providing historical documentation of the object.
RIGHTS STATEMENT Creative Commons-BY
You may download and use Brooklyn Museum images of this three-dimensional work in accordance with a Creative Commons license. Fair use, as understood under the United States Copyright Act, may also apply. Please include caption information from this page and credit the Brooklyn Museum. If you need a high resolution file, please fill out our online application form (charges apply). For further information about copyright, we recommend resources at the United States Library of Congress, Cornell University, Copyright and Cultural Institutions: Guidelines for U.S. Libraries, Archives, and Museums, and Copyright Watch. For more information about the Museum's rights project, including how rights types are assigned, please see our blog posts on copyright. If you have any information regarding this work and rights to it, please contact copyright@brooklynmuseum.org.
RECORD COMPLETENESS
Not every record you will find here is complete. More information is available for some works than for others, and some entries have been updated more recently. Records are frequently reviewed and revised, and we welcome any additional information you might have.
Maria Martinez (ca. 1887–1980). <em>Olla (Water Jar)</em>, ca. 1923. Ceramic, overall: 7 × 9 3/4 in. (17.8 × 24.8 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Gift of Graham and Megan Marks in memory of Barbara and Fred Marks, 2013.100.4. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: , 2013.100.4_PS9.jpg)