Stone Polished Black Carved Jar, circa 1960s [SOLD]

This is an extraordinary stone-polished black carved jar by Margaret Tafoya (1904-2001) of Santa Clara Pueblo. This magnificent early piece, from the 1960s, was coil formed in native clay over which was applied a red slip which was then painstakingly burnished with a polishing stone and fired in a reduction firing resulting in a beautiful black finish.

This southwest Indian pottery jar features a singular design motif, one that appears to be a bird.  Our interpretation is that the round quarter-size element is a bird’s head and the body and wings flow to the left. The design encircles the upper shoulder.

This is a superb example of Margaret's carved pottery pieces. It has an extremely fine burnish and a deep black firing. The jar grows outward from the base to mid-body, then flows inward to the neck that goes upward.   It is signed on the underside Margaret Tafoya Santa Clara Pueblo.

The owner stated that it was a ribbon winner at the New Mexico State Fair in 1964.  There are two ribbons in the jar, one is a First Premium and the other a Second Premium, both from the 1964 New Mexico State Fair, so we do not know which ribbon applies, but apparently one of them does.

Recommended Reading: Born of Fire: The Pottery of Margaret Tafoya by Charles King.  This book is currently not available from Adobe Gallery

Condition: very good condition with no chips or cracks, etc.

Provenance: from a gentleman in Albuquerque