San Ildefonso Black and Sienna Candle Holders [SOLD]

Tse-Pé is 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.

These candle holders do not have any sgraffito carving but combine polished black, matte black and sienna coloration.  The pedestals of each have three legs connected by arches.  The outline of each arch is stone polished and the remainder of the pedestal is matte black.  The rim is sienna.

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, that is, the style being made by his mother.  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.    

Condition: original condition

Recommended Reading: Fourteen Families in Pueblo Pottery by Rick Dillingham

Provenance: One of the candleholders was provided to us by a family in Santa Fe who knew they had a pair but could not find the second one and thought perhaps they had sold it in the past.  The second one was brought to us by an Albuquerque dealer who saw our single one posted on our website.  He had purchased it from an Albuquerque client.  Now, the pair is back together.