Black Pottery Horse Single Bookend [SOLD]

I am stating that this black horse single bookend was made by Maria I. Naranjo of Santa Clara Pueblo, even though it is not signed as such.  She is known to use the name Margarita Naranjo and this horse is signed this way.  I am also basing this on my experience with her and the special items she made for me years ago.  I showed her a photo of a three-piece pottery train that is in the Museum of New Mexico and asked her to make one for me, which she did.  When I asked if she would make another one, she refused, without comment.

I later asked her to make for me a pottery Noah’s Ark and, still later, a pottery wagon cage for a lion as used in parades to advertise the arrival of the circus in town.  She made both, but not any others.  I have seen a wonderful pottery wagon with two horses and a family riding in the wagon.  All of these items have a style that ties them together and identifies the maker as Maria I. Naranjo.  I think, therefore, that she made this horse bookend.  It appears that she very much enjoyed the experience of making something unusual out of clay but was not interested in ever repeating the same shapes.

Condition: one small chip on one ear

Recommended Reading:  Santa Clara Pottery Today by Betty LeFree

Provenance: from the collection of a gentleman from Colorado