Large Mississippian Pottery Olla - Globular Jar with Short Collar

Native American, Mississippian culture. A broad, low-shouldered jar swells outward in a near-spherical body before drawing inward to a short, upright collar rim. Built by hand from shell-tempered earthenware and finished with a burnished surface, the vessel carries the smoky grays and ashen blooms of open pit firing, fire-clouding that lends each example its own mottled signature. The generous capacity and rounded base suit it to the storage and transport of grain, water, or seed, a workhorse form of the riverine settlements of the American Southeast and Mississippi Valley. Its appeal lies in economy of line: an unadorned, swelling silhouette whose power comes from proportion rather than decoration, the utilitarian pottery of a sophisticated maize-farming society that raised earthen mounds across the heartland of the continent. The Mississippian tradition (roughly 800 to 1600 CE) flourished along the Mississippi, Ohio, and Tennessee river systems, anchored by ceremonial centers such as Cahokia, Moundville, and Etowah. A defining technical innovation was the tempering of clay with crushed freshwater mussel shell, which lightened the body and allowed potters to throw the broad, thin-walled globular jars and bottles for which the culture is known. Vessels of this utilitarian form were the domestic vessels of communities sustained by intensive maize agriculture, frequently recovered from habitation sites and, in finer wares, from mortuary contexts as grave offerings. A Certificate of Authenticity will accompany all winning bids. Item # 203015

Estimate:$350

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