San Ildefonso Polished Black Jar signed Maria Poveka [SOLD]

According to Richard Spivey, the signature Maria Poveka on undecorated blackware was a signature started in 1956 and abandoned in the mid 1960s, so it lasted only a decade. However, in 1959, Popovi Da Martinez started adding a date to the pottery signatures, even those signed Maria Poveka. That fact would shorten the date of undated Maria Poveka pottery to the 1956-1959 periods.

This small jar is signed Maria Poveka and does not have a date added to the signature so we must assume it dates to the late 1950s.  This is a superb example of San Ildefonso blackware created by Maria.

These undecorated black polished vessels are some of the most beautiful pottery made by Maria Montoya Poveka Martinez (Pond Lily). Their beauty is in the shape and burnish, and decoration is unnecessary. Without some of the visual excess of the painted works, these late blackware pieces can be truly appreciated from a more minimal, formalist stance. In this late work, proportion, scale, and excellence of polish are key factors.