Tall Carved Black Pottery Jar [R]

C3841B-tafoya.jpg

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Margaret Tafoya, Santa Clara Pueblo Potter

Margaret Tafoya is well-known among collectors of 20th-century pottery and deservedly so.  She was an excellent potter in blackware and redware.  Her shapes were always beautifully executed and her designs were tailored to the vessel shape.  This jar slightly expands as it rises from the base and then curves in at the rim.  In the upper third of the jar, she carved a design that could easily be described as influenced by the *Avanyu water serpent. 

 

The jar is signed Margaret Tafoya on the underside.  It probably dates to the late 20th century.The jar is signed Margaret Tafoya on the underside.  It probably dates to the late 20th century.

 

Condition: structurally in very good condition with some minor crazing of the surface.

 

Provenance: From the collection of a gentleman from South Carolina

 

Recommended Reading: Born of Fire: The Pottery of Margaret Tafoya by Charles King

 

*Avanyu:  a deity of the Tewa Pueblos—San Ildefonso, Tesuque, San Juan, Santa Clara, Nambe, and Pojoaque—and is the guardian of water. He is represented as a horned or plumed serpent with curves suggestive of flowing water or the zig-zag of lightning. He appears on the walls of caves located high above canyon rivers in New Mexico and Arizona and may be related to the feathered serpent of Mesoamerica— Quetzalcoatl and related deities. 

Close up view of side panel carved designs

 

Margaret Tafoya, Santa Clara Pueblo Potter
C3841B-tafoya.jpgC3841B-large.jpg Click on image to view larger.