Attributed to Martina Vigil (1856 - 1916 and Florentino Montoya (1858 - 1918))

Jar

Datec. 1900

DimensionsOverall: 10 1/2 × 12 3/4 in. (26.7 × 32.4 cm)

Object numberT0115

Credit LineGift of Eugene V. and Clare E. Thaw

Photograph by John Bigelow Taylor, NYC

Label TextBeautifully painted black-and-red-on-buff pots are typical of this great pottery-making Pueblo between 1890 and 1910. Local clay was used with crushed volcanic ash temper. The red paint was a clay slip and the black was made with "guaco" of boiled Rocky Mountain bee-weed (Cleome serrulata). The combinations of angular and curvilinear motifs were arranged in two bands, separated by heavy black lines. The red base is separated from the upper buff section by a red line and the rim is painted black. Batkin is certain that the pot was made by Martina Vigil and Florentino Montoya. These two great potters lived at San Ildefonso until 1903 and then moved to Martina's home at Cochiti Pueblo. There they learned the rag-polishing technique and introduced to San Ildefonso where, to some extent, it replaced the old stone polish. (c.f. Batkin 1987, p.82) This vessel was made while they were still finishing their pots with stone polishing. Batkin has identified it as being made by Vigil and Montoya by certain distinctive elements: first, the generally fine finish, the excellent painting technique, and the use of recurrent motifs such as the cloud groups, the steps outlined with double lines, the pendant triangles around the rim, the scallops, and the use of negative space such as the steps in the base of the opposed scrolls. The name "Cipiano (Cipriano?) Chave (Chavez?)" probably signified a commission or a gift. (From the Catalog of the Thaw Collection of American Indian Art, 2nd ed.)
ProvenancePaul Sarkisian, Santa Fe, New Mexico
BibliographyFognell, 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. 232.

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