Red Sgraffito and Micaceous Jar [SOLD]

Tse-Pé Gonzales (1940- 2000) was generally known by his singular name. His mother was Rose Gonzales, the potter who introduced carved blackware pottery to San Ildefonso Pueblo. Tse-Pé followed the tradition of carved pottery, but chose sgraffito carving rather than the deep carving of his mother’s style. In the early 1970s, Tse-Pé was among the first potters to participate in the sgraffito movement, along with Tony Da, Popovi Da, Joseph Lonewolf, Art Cody and other male potters. Perhaps because pottery was traditionally a woman’s craft, the sgraffito technique was adopted by males as a way not to produce woman’s work.

Tse-Pé, like other male potters of the 1970s, was not content to produce pottery in the style that was considered traditional at that time.  He rapidly developed a very contemporary style—mixing matte and polished surfaces on the same pottery, adding turquoise, using green slip for accent, and adding sienna to black wares.  These are what distinguish his pottery from the traditional wares of the time.

This jar has a bulbous body that narrows to a restricted neck.  The front of the jar has a stone-polished image of a dancer with a feather plume tied to his hair.  Four turquoise beads are inserted around his neck.  The background clay has been pecked away and left in a textured state.  The remainder of the jar was slipped in polished mica clay.  The neck was slipped in matte red clay and left unpolished. The jar is signed with his TP signature.

Condition: very good condition

Provenance: from the collection of a family moving from Santa Fe to Tucson and now downsizing its collection

Recommended Reading: Fourteen Families in Pueblo Pottery by Rick Dillingham (1952-1994)