Bowl with Avanyu design

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Image courtesy of the Ruth and Elmer Museum of Art at Hamilton College, Clinton, NY. Photo by J…
Bowl with Avanyu design
Image courtesy of the Ruth and Elmer Museum of Art at Hamilton College, Clinton, NY. Photo by John Bentham. For educational purposes only.
Artist/Maker (San Ildefonso Pueblo, 1887 - 1980)
Artist/Maker (San Ildefonso Pueblo, 1921 - 1999)
Datec. 1925-43
MediumSan Ildefonso black-on-black terracotta
DimensionsOverall: 4 × 4 3/4 × 4 3/4 in. (10.2 × 12.1 × 12.1 cm)
Credit LineGift of Juli and Gil Towell, Class of 1950, P1983
Object number2018.3.4
On view
DescriptionBlack-on-black pottery was a style that was produced by the Pueblo peoples during the Neolithic period. The peoples of the nearby Santa Clara Pueblo were still producing the highly burnished black on black pottery since the 1600s. While Santa Clara’s pots are deeply carved and incised, those of San Ildefonso are generally not carved and are painted with pigments to cause un-polished designs on a polished surface. The clay itself is not jet black, but rather caused by smothering the fire surrounding the pottery during the outdoor firing process, trapping the smoke and thus depositing it into the clay. Julian Martinez, husband of Maria Martinez, began by decorating Maria's pots and in 1918 finished his first decorated black ware pot with a matte background and a polish Avanyu design. Many of his patterns were adopted from ancient vessels of the Pueblos, including birds, roadrunner tracks, rain, feathers, clouds, mountains, and kiva steps. Depicted here, the avanyu, or water serpent, is important in the culture and cosmology of the Tewa Pueblos. This bowl bears the joint signature "Marie + Julian," dating it to 1925-1943.
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Additional Details

Provenance 2018: Hamilton College (Ruth and Elmer Wellin Museum of Art), by gift of Juli Towell;
2005 - 2018: Juli Towell, by purchase from Faust Gallery, Scottsdale, AZ.
Markings Label: small circular white adhesive label "05-01" on pot bottom.
Signature Signed "Marie / + / Julian" on pot bottom.
Inscribed "#11146", "4200-" on pot bottom.
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