Garcia Acoma Pueblo Polychrome Seed Jar with Fine-Line & Sgraffito Star

A spherical Acoma seed jar by a Garcia family potter, signed to the underside "Garcia, Acoma, NM." The form is a tightly burnished orb with a small raised neck, decorated in three contrasting registers: precise black fine-line hatching that radiates and folds across the body, terracotta-orange geometric fans accented with black dotting, and a stylized floral medallion of pointed white petals. The shoulder and base of the jar carry a textured sgraffito field — densely stippled bare clay in a star burst around the opening and again as the foot — a hallmark surface treatment that contrasts the smooth slip and reads as cool relief against the painted geometry.

The Garcia name is one of the established potting lineages at Acoma Pueblo (Sky City), the mesa-top community west of Albuquerque whose pottery tradition stretches back roughly a thousand years. Fine-line painting in this density — executed freehand with a yucca brush — is the technical signature most associated with Acoma at its highest level, and the rhythmic alternation of fine-line, solid black, terracotta, and textured ground here shows a confident hand. By a Garcia family potter of Acoma Pueblo.

CONDITION

Very Good with no remarkable damage. Slip and paint are clean and bright; fine-line work is crisp throughout. Light handling marks only.

DIMENSIONS / SPECIFICATIONS

• 5" H × 5" Diameter
• Signed: "Garcia, Acoma, NM" to underside
• Hand-coiled and hand-painted earthenware
• Campbell's Soup Can (4" H) Shown for Scale — Not Included