Santa Clara Pueblo 19-piece Nacimiento by Martha Mirabal [SOLD]

Pueblo artisans have made nacimientos or nativity sets since the 1950s and they have become more popular since the publication of the Nacimientos book in the 1970s. In the 1950s, there were only a couple potters making them and by the 1960s there were several more but that blossomed to over a dozen potters by the time the Nacimientos book was published.

There are probably some three or four dozen potters making the sets today, but some, of course, are more spectacular than others. This set by Martha Mirabal, daughter of the famous potter Maria I. Naranjo, is one of the finest and most time consuming to make. Mirabal produced a deep red slip on some pieces, a cream slip on some, beige on some and black on others. Each color required a separate firing. All the pieces were stone polished before firing.

Applying four different slips to 19 pieces, polishing each, and conducting separate firings were very time consuming tasks. This set is several years old but is in original excellent condition.