Mexican Ceramic Olla or Vessel

Flattened black pot with a tiny opening and green leaf strokes cut across it.

This burnished olla vessel in blackware from Mata Ortiz is from Mata Ortiz, Chihuahua, Mexico, and dates to the 20th century. It is burnished pottery & blackware. Mata Ortiz is a village in Chihuahua, Mexico, where potters revived ancient Casas Grandes pottery techniques in the later twentieth century, notably through the work of Juan Quezada. Wide, disc-shaped pot with a small round opening in the center and a glossy black surface. Fine incised lines and pale green leaf-like strokes sweep across the shoulder. The finish is smooth with a soft shine. It is 3 inches high and 6.25 in diameter.

Low, sleek and rather mysterious in its stillness.