LOT Davis Brothers Auction  /  America's National Parks  / 

849

Maria Martinez San Ildefonso Pueblo Indian Plate

Currency:USD Category:Collectibles / Western Americana Start Price:10.00 USD Estimated At:5,000.00 - 7,500.00 USD
Maria Martinez San Ildefonso Pueblo Indian Plate
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Beautiful piece of pottery by Maria Martinez. Large 13 3/4" diameter. No chips or cracks. Maria Montoya Poveka Martinez (1887 - 1980) was active/lived in New Mexico. Maria Martinez is known for Pueblo motif black pottery. Of Tewa heritage of the San Ildefonso Pueblo in the Rio Grande Valley of New Mexico, Maria Martinez became world renowned for her black on black pottery. "This process involved burying the unfinished pot in a fire in the ground, covered tightly with sheep or cow dung for fuel. The amount of air reaching the pottery determined whether the clay remained red or instead turned completely black." (Gibson/Michnovicz, 91) Her pottery was first exhibited beyond her pueblo at the St. Louis World's Fair in 1904, and many decades later at the Smithsonian Museum in Washington DC, the Millicent Rogers Museum in Taos, and the Heard Museum in Phoenix. She learned to make pots as a child from her aunt, Tia Nicolasa, and began with clay dishes she made for her playhouse. In 1908, New Mexico archaeologist Dr. Edgar Hewett asked her to put some shards together and reconstruct an entire pot. She was successful, and this activity further stirred her interest in making pots. Julian, her husband, broke away from farming in San Ildefonso and became a janitor at the Museum of New Mexico in Santa Fe. He and Maria studied the pottery in the display cases, and then applied methods they observed. They discovered a method to get the black colors by smothering the flames with dried manure during firing, producing smoke that carbonized the pottery. They polished the surfaces with a smooth stone before firing, so the pottery, black-on-black, emerged with a silvery sheen. They also painted dull, velvet black decorations of ancient motifs on the pottery before firing. They sold many of their pots in Santa Fe but eventually Maria became homesick for San Ildefonso, and the couple returned there where she gave pottery lessons to other women. After her husband's death, she worked with her sons, Popovi Da and Adam, and others, which insured that her pottery making techniques lived on. Maria Martinez became so admired for her skill that she was specially invited to the White House four times, and she received honorary doctorates from the University of Colorado and New Mexico State University. Allard Auction Collection Inv: AX
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