See more objects with the tag ceramics, display, feathers, decorative, stylized, globular.

Object Timeline

1960

  • Work on this object began.

1965

  • Work on this object ended.

1982

  • We acquired this object.

2014

2015

2021

2022

2024

  • You found it!

Jar (USA)

This is a Jar. It was ceramist: Desideria Montoya Sanchez. It is dated 1960–65 and we acquired it in 1982. Its medium is earthenware. It is a part of the Product Design and Decorative Arts department.


Desideria Montoya Sanchez came from a family of potters who reinterpreted the centuries-old P'ohwhóge Owingeh blackware coiling and firing technique to create black-on-black ware ceramics. Montoya Sanchez painted this jar with textured slip paints before firing in an oxygen-depleted kiln to create the burnished black surface and subtle pattern of feathers, a symbol important to many Native American cultures.

It is credited Gift by transfer from U.S.I.A. Office of Exhibitions Abroad via Renwick Gallery.

  • Kantharos (Italy)
  • glossy black and dark gray biscuit control-fired earthenware.
  • Gift of Ruth Vollmer.
  • 1971-48-13
  • Vase
  • enamel, copper.
  • Private Collection.
  • 41.2016.5

Its dimensions are

H x diam.: 16.5 x 16.5 cm (6 1/2 x 6 1/2 in.)

It has the following markings

Signed in script, underside: Desideria

Cite this object as

Jar (USA); Ceramist: Desideria Montoya Sanchez (American, 1889–1982); earthenware; H x diam.: 16.5 x 16.5 cm (6 1/2 x 6 1/2 in.); Gift by transfer from U.S.I.A. Office of Exhibitions Abroad via Renwick Gallery; 1982-38-4

This object was previously on display as a part of the exhibition Duro Olowu Selects.

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<ref name=CH>{{cite web |url=https://collection.cooperhewitt.org/objects/18799941/ |title=Jar (USA) |author=Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum |accessdate=25 April 2024 |publisher=Smithsonian Institution}}</ref>