Skip to main content
Exhibition History"Art Des Indiens D'Amerique Du Nord Dans La Collection D'Eugene Thaw," Mona Bismarck Foundation, Paris, France, Somogy Editions D'Art, January 21, 2000 - March 18, 2000.
ProvenanceSamuel Eldodt, San Juan Pueblo, New Mexico; Richard Spivey, Santa Fe, New Mexico
BibliographyPerriot, Francoise and Slim Batteux, trans. Arts de Indiens d’Amerique du Nord: Dans la Collection d’ Eugene et Clare Thaw. Paris: Somogy editions e’Art. 1999, p. 83, fig. 68.
Vincent, Gilbert et al. Art of the North American Indians: The Thaw Collection. Cooperstown, New York: Fenimore Art Museum, 2000, p.216.
Fognell, Eva and Alexander Brier Marr, eds. Art of the North American Indians: The Thaw Collection at the Fenimore Art Museum, 2nd ed. Cooperstown, New York: Fenimore Art Museum, 2016, p. 236.
Culture
Santa Clara Pueblo
Jar
Datec. 1900
MediumClay
DimensionsOverall: 9 × 14 1/4 in. (22.9 × 36.2 cm)
Object numberT0112
Credit LineGift of Eugene V. and Clare E. Thaw
Photograph by John Bigelow Taylor, NYC
Label TextPueblo black pottery has been made for more than 300 years. Current research suggests black polished potter arrived with Oaxacan Indians who arrived in New Mexico in 1598 with Spanish colonists. It is this traditional blackware that helped form the basis for a surge in production and refinement stimulated by the inventions of Maria and Julian Martinez at San Ildefonso in 1919 and later. But well before this time, the Santa Clara potters were famous for their very large blackware vases and bowls. The pottery is made with the famous Tewa red clay containing ferric oxide. This clay becomes bright red when fired in an oxidizing atmosphere (i.e., oxygen reaches the pot during firing) and jet black when fired in a reducing atmosphere (i.e., without oxygen). This finely polished jar dates from about 1900. Although all the Tewa pueblos made black polished pottery, this elegant and beautifully balanced shape was made only at Santa Clara pueblo. The raised band on the shoulder is a rainbow, and implies around the rim are raindrops. The acute angle of the underbody gives this jar extraordinary refinement. This technique of impressing forms in the moist clay was distinctive of Santa Clare pottery. (From the Catalog of the Thaw Collection of American Indian Art, 2nd ed.)Exhibition History"Art Des Indiens D'Amerique Du Nord Dans La Collection D'Eugene Thaw," Mona Bismarck Foundation, Paris, France, Somogy Editions D'Art, January 21, 2000 - March 18, 2000.
ProvenanceSamuel Eldodt, San Juan Pueblo, New Mexico; Richard Spivey, Santa Fe, New Mexico
BibliographyPerriot, Francoise and Slim Batteux, trans. Arts de Indiens d’Amerique du Nord: Dans la Collection d’ Eugene et Clare Thaw. Paris: Somogy editions e’Art. 1999, p. 83, fig. 68.
Vincent, Gilbert et al. Art of the North American Indians: The Thaw Collection. Cooperstown, New York: Fenimore Art Museum, 2000, p.216.
Fognell, Eva and Alexander Brier Marr, eds. Art of the North American Indians: The Thaw Collection at the Fenimore Art Museum, 2nd ed. Cooperstown, New York: Fenimore Art Museum, 2016, p. 236.
On View
On view