id: 117338
accession number: 1937.898
share license status: CC0
url: https://clevelandart.org/art/1937.898
updated: 2023-03-10 11:02:18.372000
Water Jar (Olla) with Rainbird, 1850–60. Native North America, Southwest, New Mexico, Zuni (A:shiwi) Pueblo. Ceramic, slip; overall: 25.5 x 33 cm (10 1/16 x 13 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Gift of Amelia Elizabeth White 1937.898
title: Water Jar (Olla) with Rainbird
title in original language:
series:
series in original language:
creation date: 1850–60
creation date earliest: 1850
creation date latest: 1860
current location: 231 Native North American
creditline: Gift of Amelia Elizabeth White
copyright:
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culture: Native North America, Southwest, New Mexico, Zuni (A:shiwi) Pueblo
technique: ceramic, slip
department: Art of the Americas
collection: AA - Native North America
type: Ceramic
find spot:
catalogue raisonne:
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CREATORS
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measurements: Overall: 25.5 x 33 cm (10 1/16 x 13 in.)
state of the work:
edition of the work:
support materials:
inscriptions:
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CURRENT EXHIBITIONS
title: Art of the American Indians: The Thaw Collection
opening date: 2010-03-07T00:00:00
Art of the American Indians: The Thaw Collection. The Cleveland Museum of Art (March 7-May 30, 2010).
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LEGACY EXHIBITIONS
* CMA 2010: "Art of the American Indians: The Thaw Collection" March 7 - May 30, 2010
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PROVENANCE
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fun fact:
digital description:
wall description:
Zuni (A:shiwi) women used ollas (oy-ahs) like this one to collect, carry, and store water. The water well was a place for socializing, and the vessels’ public visibility may help to explain their elaborate, deftly painted decoration—here an abstract creature called the Rainbird whose beak spirals between two stylized, stepped wings that may allude to moisture-bearing clouds. Milford Nahohai, the contemporary Zuni potter, believes the motif is inspired by rain clouds that roll into the Zuni River Valley, their leading edges curled under the main mass to form a curve like that of the beak.
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RELATED WORKS
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CITATIONS
Bergh, Susan E., "Unburied Treasure", Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland Art: The Cleveland Museum of Art Members Magazine. Vol. 45 no. 10, December 2005
page number: Mentioned & reproduced: p. 4
url: https://archive.org/details/CMAMM2005-10/page/4
Cleveland Museum of Art. The CMA Companion: A Guide to the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2014.
page number: Mentioned and reproduced: P. 343
url:
Cleveland Museum of Art. Museum Masters: 2016-17 Companion Guide. [Cleveland, Ohio]: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2016.
page number: Mentioned and Reproduced: P. 28
url:
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IMAGES
web: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1937.898/1937.898_web.jpg
print: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1937.898/1937.898_print.jpg
full: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1937.898/1937.898_full.tif