San Ildefonso Black and Sienna Jar with Avanyu [R]

This San Ildefonso Pueblo jar was coil built, polished, etched, painted and fired black, and then double fired for the sienna upper part.  The black and sienna areas were fully stone polished with a very narrow band between the two left in matte sienna coloration.

The Avanyu design encircles the entire body of the vessel with the serpent’s tail reaching around to its head. A half-inch black polished section descends from the rim down into the jar. The jar is signed DA on the bottom of the jar, cut into the clay.

Tony Da began to learn the techniques of pottery production from Maria when he moved in to his grandmother’s house in 1966.  His earlier pottery was mostly redware bowls or jars with an Avanyu as the prime theme of decoration.  There was no turquoise or hieshe in the earlier works.  It is my understanding that Tony’s dad, Popovi Da, fired all of Tony’s black pottery.

This jar, devoid of turquoise or hieshe, probably dates to approximately 1970.  The workmanship is exquisite, consistent with his progress in those few years of instructions from Maria.  The carving of the Avanyu is precise and the removal of the clay around the Avanyu was accomplished to perfection.  That section remains in a black matte state.

Condition: excellent condition, with no chips, cracks, restoration or repairs to any part of the jar.

Provenance: from the estate of a former collector from Texas

Recommended Reading:  The Life and Art of Tony Da by Charles King and Richard Spivey