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 started adding a date to the pottery signature, even those signed Maria Poveka. That, then, 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.

These undecorated black polished vessels are some of the most beautiful pottery made by Maria. Their beauty is in the shape and burnish, and decoration is unnecessary. This is a superb example of San Ildefonso blackware created by Maria. 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.