This is a beautiful polychrome San Ildefonso olla. It has a small base and flares out to the middle of the olla and then has a narrow ledge and then slopes up to the top. The bottom half has a design of tendrils and curves. The middle has a band of tipped black and orange rectangles and the upper body has a design of leaves and curves. This unusual piece was collected by Esther Hoyt who began teaching art to San Ildefonso children at the San Ildefonso Day School in 1900. She taught them to paint using an easel and encouraged them to paint as they wished. She is credited with exerting a strong influence on the young Indian artists who started the San Ildefonso School of Indian Art. Her most important art student was Tonita Pena. 

H. 6"; D. 8"