Black-on-black Small Jar by Lupita Martinez [SOLD]

Lupita Martinez was the niece of Maria and Julian Martinez through marriage to the son of Julian’s brother, Louis Martinez. I do not know if she was a full-time potter or an occasional potter. I have never had one of her pieces in the gallery before, and I was not familiar with her name.

This small jar is very well constructed and painted. The design, listed as one of her favorites, consists of clouds pendant from the rim of the jar. Her name is inscribed into the clay on the underside. The jar is in excellent condition.

COMMENTS: Some experts have contended that smothering pottery during the firing process creates a carbon smoke that penetrates the pottery, turning it black. Even though several books describing black pueblo pottery attribute the color change to carbon, the reduction of iron oxide is the correct mechanism. Ceramicists, describing ancient styles of Old World pottery, state that iron impurities in clay form red oxide at red heat, but if air is lacking during firing, iron impurities in clay form black magnetite.