San Ildefonso Pueblo Pottery Jar By Maria and Julian ca. 1938 5.125" H x 6.625"

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San Ildefonso Pueblo Pottery Jar By Maria and Julian ca. 1938 5.125" H x 6.625":
$6950.00

Offered byAntique American Indian Art, LLC--- AAIA--San Ildefonso Pueblo Pottery Jar By Maria and Julian

ca. 1938

5.125" H x 6.625" D

Hand Coiled Black on Black Jar with Glossy and Matte Geometric Design on Upper Neck Signed Maria & Julian

In Very Good Condition

200902-01

Maria Martinez (1887–1980) and her husband Julián (1879–1943) were Tewa artists from San Ildefonso Pueblo, New Mexico, who transformed Pueblo pottery from a functional craft into a celebrated fine art form. Their most famous innovation is the black-on-black pottery technique, perfected around 1918–1920 after they were inspired by ancient shards found during archaeological excavations at nearby Pajarito Plateau. While Maria was a master at hand-coiling and stone-polishing the clay into perfectly symmetrical vessels, Julián was a skilled painter who decorated them with matte designs using a liquid clay slip.

Maria Poveka Montoya Martinez (c. 1887–1980) was a Tewa artist from San Ildefonso Pueblo, New Mexico, celebrated for reviving and innovating Pueblo pottery. She learned traditional pottery techniques from her aunt, Nicolasa Peña Montoya, starting around age 11. With her husband, Julian Martinez, she developed the iconic black-on-black pottery style around 1918–1919, characterized by a glossy black finish with matte designs, achieved through a unique oxygen-reduction firing process using smothered fires with manure. This technique transformed red clay pots to black, with designs like the avanyu (horned water serpent), feathers, and geometric patterns inspired by ancestral Pueblo motifs.

Maria shaped and polished the pots, while Julian painted the designs until his death in 1943. Later, she collaborated with her daughter-in-law Santana Martinez (1943–1956) and son Popovi Da (1956–1971), who introduced innovations like sienna (double-fired) and poly chrome pottery.

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