Highly Polished Black Bear Paw Jar [SOLD]

Margaret Tafoya once said the correct spelling of her mother's name is Sara Fina, not Serafina or Sarafina, as often seen in print. Sara Fina is known to have been the outstanding potter of her time. Because she spoke no English and could not write (although she spoke Tewa and Spanish), her pottery vessels are unsigned except for those signed for her by her children.

Sara Fina Tafoya (circa 1863-1950) Autumn Leaf was from Santa Clara Pueblo and she made large utilitarian vessels and small items as well. Most were undecorated polished black or red pottery, and some had scalloped rims and impressed designs including bear paws and melon shapes.

Her work today must be attributed to her hand by comparing them to pieces in collections which are known to have been made by her. Because of the high quality of her pottery, it is not too difficult to single out her work. 

Some of the factors that lead us to attribute this jar to having been made by Sara Fina are, firstly, the vessel walls exhibit vertical depressions as if they were scraped in an up-and-down manner. The black slip exhibits horizontal striations as if the polishing was done in a side-to-side manner. Sara Fina is known to have scraped her vessels with corncobs to smooth the vessel wall before applying slip. She detested the use of commercial sandpaper. Her earlier works show evidence of this method. This vessel appears to have been scraped in the up-and-down manner and stone polished in a horizontal manner.

Secondly, the entire vessel was slipped and stone polished and fired to a beautiful dark black. The high degree of polish is remarkable considering the jar was not first sanded before polishing. The underside is concave as are the bottoms of all traditional jars.

Thirdly, there were few potters in the late 1800s and early 1900s at Santa Clara Pueblo who were as technically proficient as Sara Fina Tafoya. This jar was extremely well constructed and exhibits very thin walls, was well polished, and has bear paws impressed into the vessel wall—all well-known traits of the work of Sara Fina.

Condition: very good condition with one rim chip repair

Provenance: from the collection of a family from Colorado

Recommended Reading:  Born of Fire: The Pottery of Margaret Tafoya by Charles King.  This book is currently not available from Adobe Gallery