San Ildefonso Pueblo Monochromatic Pottery Jar by Maria Martinez [SOLD]

This San Ildefonso Pueblo pottery jar is the most traditional Tewa shape from the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.  Its shape was perfected by Maria Martinez and became one she made when working in the pre-blackware pottery period that she and her husband made popular in the 1930s and later.  The jar, of course, did not have a signature of a potter as that was standard for the period.

An acquaintance of mine from the days I lived in Albuquerque was an appraiser named Maureen Grammer.  She was a fountain of knowledge and had been a personal friend of Maria Martinez who visited Maureen when she was in Albuquerque.  On such a visit, Maria identified this jar as one she had made early in her career.  She signed it for Maureen and added the date 1908.  The following testimonial is from Maureen, following that fateful visit by Maria in 1952.

“Robert Gwillem Evans, an official of the Fred Harvey Company, asked me to appraise a number of antiques of historical significance, in the spring of 1952.  As a partial payment for my services, I received this San Ildefonso jar that I had admired.  The vessel was part of the ‘Fred Harvey Fine Arts Collection’ then housed in the Indian Room at the Alvarado Hotel, Albuquerque, New Mexico.  Mr. Evans, at my request, determined from ledger entries that the Fred Harvey Company had purchased the water jar from the J. S. Candelario Trading Post of Santa Fe, New Mexico.

“Several months later, Maria Martinez, a good friend, visited my home on Mesa Street in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and noticed the jar sitting on a mantel.  Maria threw up her arms and exclaimed ‘Mrs. G., that was one of my very first pieces of pottery! Crescencio painted it for me—that was before Julian was decorating.  Julian was working in the corn fields, and Crescencio was decorating pottery.’  She then borrowed a mattress needle and scratched ‘Maria 1908’ on the red underbody.

“Crescencion Martinez (1879-1918) was the husband of Maria’s sister Anna (Maximiliana, 1885-1955).  Crescencio limited his activity as a pottery decorator and probably started painting watercolors between 1910 and 1915.  According to Clara Lee Tanner, Crescencio Martinez is considered the ‘father’ of the modern [Pueblo painting] movement.

“Dr. Francis H. Harlow, noted Pueblo pottery authority, inspected the vessel at his home in Los Alamos, New Mexico, in 1982.  Dr. Harlow stated that the jar was an early Maria, and one of the few black-on-buff vessels produced at San Ildefonso Pueblo.”

There certainly is no better authentication than having been attested to by the maker. 

Condition:  The San Ildefonso Pueblo Monochromatic Pottery Jar by Maria Martinez has had some professional repairs at the rim but no other evidence of repairs.

Provenance: from a collection in Santa Fe, New Mexico

Recommended Reading: The Legacy of Maria Poveka Martinez by Richard L. Spivey