Special Value Offer: Black Polished Jar with Squared Handles [SOLD]

Special Value Offer: we have been authorized to reduce the price by 20% from the original price of $3500 to a new price of $2800.

Margaret Tafoya is a name with which all collectors of 20th century pueblo pottery are familiar. She and her family were and are major potters of blackware. Margaret is most normally known for making very large vessels, but she made smaller items as well.  Margaret was the last of eight children born to José Geronimo Tafoya (White Flower) and Sara Fina Gutierrez Tafoya (Autumn Leaf).  She was given a Tewa name that translates to Corn Blossom and was not given an English name until she was baptized in the Catholic Church as Maria Margarita Tafoya, known now to the world as Margaret Tafoya.

This jar with a pair of handles is not signed with the name of the potter, however, it has been documented that Margaret made such shapes.  She is known as the only potter to make squared-off handles, as seen on this jar.  There is a documented example very similar to this one in Blair, 1986 fig 3-20 which is dated ca. 1930.  In addition to the squared-off handles, this jar was stone-polished on the interior, something well documented as a trait of Margaret’s pottery.

Condition: this Black Polished Jar with Squared Handles is in very good condition

Reference: Blair, Mary Ellen and Laurence Blair: Margaret Tafoya—a Tewa Potter’s Heritage and Legacy, 1986

Provenance: from the collection of a family from Corrales, NM who is moving to Colorado and downsizing for the move.

NOTE:  Click here to view Magaret Tafoya's Family Tree.

Family Tree Source: Pueblo Indian Pottery: 750 Artist Biographies by Gregory Schaaf.

Photo of Margaret Tafoya from unknown source.