Parrot Olla

CC0 Public Domain Designation

c. 1880s

Ceramist unknown (Acoma)
Pueblo of Acoma, New Mexico

In the American Southwest, there is an Indian ceramic tradition that began to take form in the early centuries A.D. and has continued unbroken to the present time. Characterized by its many superbly varied styles, the art has been sustained by diverse Pueblo peoples and some of their neighbors, whose ancient and more recent settlements have long been established in the arid regions of Arizona and New Mexico. Ceramic artist of the Ácoma Pueblo, west of Albuquerque, produced an especially distinguished series of vessels during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.

This large, rounded, and beautifully proportioned vessel is covered by exuberant, colorful figures representing macaws and other birds, double rainbows, flowers, and plants. The fluid, lively pattern breaks from the disciplined, abstract symmetry that widely prevails in Puebloan tradition, possibly reflecting the influence of designs from Mexico or perhaps the printed or embroidered textiles from the eastern United States that reached New Mexico beginning in the mid-nineteenth century. Nevertheless, traditional indigenous perceptions remained in play, for macaws have been featured for centuries in Puebloan rituals devoted to the sun, rain, and agricultural fertility, as shown in corresponding ceramic and mural imagery. In this context the rainbows, flowers, and the sense of thriving life also faithfully adhere to an ancient and ongoing theme of communal participation in nature’s eternal renewal.

Status: On View, Gallery 161
Department: Arts of the Americas

Culture: Pueblo of Acoma
Title: Parrot Olla
Place: Pueblo of Acoma (Object made in:)
Date Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.: c. 1880–1889
Medium: Earthenware and slip
Dimensions: 41.5 × 44.9 × 45.5 cm (16 3/8 × 17 11/16 × 17 15/16 in.)
Credit Line: Ethel T. Scarborough and Major Acquisitions funds; Gladys N. Anderson Endowment Fund
Reference Number: 2006.749
IIIF Manifest The International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) represents a set of open standards that enables rich access to digital media from libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions around the world. Learn more.: https://api.artic.edu/api/v1/artworks/189293/manifest.json

Ralph W. Andrews, Photographers of the Frontier West: Their Lives and Works 1875 to 1915 (Seattle: Superior Publishing, 1965), 168–17.
Richard Howard, “A Magnificent Acoma Pot,” American Indian Art Magazine 1, no. 2 (Spring, 1976): 16–19 (ill.).
Jerry Jacka and Spencer Gil, Pottery Treasures: The Splendor of Southwest Indian Art (Portland: Graphic Arts Center Publishing, 1976), 17 (ill.).
Evan M. Maurer, The Native American Heritage: A Survey of North American Indian Art, exh. cat. (Art Institute of Chicago, 1977), 232–233, cat. 331 (ill.).
David L. Arnold, “Pueblo Pottery: 2,000 years of Artistry,” National Geographic Magazine 162, no. 5 (Nov. 1982): 593–605 (ill.).
Ron McCoy with Martin Sullivan and Nathan Youngblood, With Beauty All Around Me: Art of the Native Southwest, exh. cat. (Scottsdale Center for the Arts, 1998), 83 (ill.).
Francis Harlow and Jack Silverman, Pueblo Indian Pottery: A Portfolio of Archival Studies by Jack Silverman (Aspen, CO: Silverman Museum, 2001), figs. 24 and 25 (ill.).
Jack Silverman with Francis H. Harlow, Pueblo Treasure from the Silverman Museum, exh. cat. (Silverman Museum, 2005), 14, 62–65, 133, cat. 24 (ill.).
Richard Townsend, “Black and White Storage Jar (Olla) with Abstract Geometric Motifs and Polychrome Storage Jar (Olla) with Macaw and Floral Motifs,” Notable Acquisitions at the Art Institute of Chicago, Art Institute of Chicago Museum Studies 34, no. 1 (2008): 8–9 (ill.).
Richard Townsend and Kathleen Bickford Berzock, “The Art Institute of Chicago New Galleries,” Tribal Arts XVI-1, no. 62 (Winter 2011), 63, fig. 9 (ill.).
Dwight P. Lanmon and Francis H. Harlow, “The Pottery of Acoma Pueblo, Part Two: Acoma Polychrome (c. 1840-Present),” American Indian Art Magazine (Winter 2012): 71, fig. 8 (ill.).
Dwight P. Lanmon and Francis H. Harlow, The Pottery of Acoma Pueblo (Museum of Mexico Press, 2013), 282–285, figs. 17, 19 (ill.).
Richard Townsend with Elizabeth Pope, Indian Art of the Americas at the Art Institute of Chicago (Art Institute of Chicago, 2016), 69, cat. 38 (ill.).
Elizabeth Pope, “Delores Junaico’s Prayers Answered” Small Wonders (blog), Art Institute of Chicago, Nov. 30, 2021, https://www.artic.edu/articles/956/small-wonders.

Art Institute of Chicago, The Native American Heritage: A Survey of North American Indian Art, July 16–Oct. 30, 1977, cat.
Scottsdale Center for the Arts, With Beauty All Around Me: The Art of the Native Southwest, Feb. 20-Apr. 26, 1998, cat. (no cat. no.).
Denver Public Library, Pueblo Treasure from the Silverman Museum, 2005, cat.

The artist, Pueblo of Acoma, NM, by 1901; sold to Henry G. Peabody (1855–1951), Pasadena, CA, c. 1902 [undated description of visit to Acoma by H. Peabody; Andrews 1965; Howard 1976; Harlow and Silverman 2005; copies in curatorial object file]. Richard M. Howard, Santa Fe, by 1976 to at least 1998 [Howard 1976; McCoy 1998]. Raymond Dewey, Dewey Galleries, Santa Fe, by 2001 [according to email from J. Silverman, May 18, 2013; copy in curatorial object file]; sold to Jack Silverman, Silverman Museum Collection, Aspen, CO, and Santa Fe, by 2001 [Harlow and Silverman 2001]; sold, Bonhams and Butterfields, San Francisco, CA, Dec. 4, 2006, lot 4008, to the Art Institute of Chicago.

Object information is a work in progress and may be updated as new research findings emerge. To help improve this record, please email . Information about image downloads and licensing is available here.

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Date Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.

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IIIF Manifest The International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) represents a set of open standards that enables rich access to digital media from libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions around the world.

Learn more.