San Ildefonso Black Polished Shallow Dish signed Maria Poveka [SOLD]

Some of the most beautiful pottery made by Maria are the plain, polished and undecorated ones. Their beauty is in the shape and burnish, and decoration is unnecessary. This is superb example of San Ildefonso blackware, created by Maria. Without some of the visual excess of the painted works, these late blackware pieces can be truly appreciated from a more minimal, formalist stance. In this late work, proportion, scale, and excellence of polish are the key factors.

Maria’s sister Clara is known to have spent her life assisting Maria with her pottery.  Clara mostly burnished Maria’s pottery and she was excellent at doing so.  Occasionally Clara would make some pottery herself or Maria would give her an unfinished one of hers and Clara would finish it and sign it with her native name Cóba.  It is likely that Clara burnished this small dish and Maria’s son, Adam, fired it for his mom.

This small dish has a flawless burnish and an excellent firing. It is beautifully black throughout. It is signed Maria Poveka on the underside.

Condition: very good condition

Provenance: from the collection of a family from Pennsylvania

Reference and Recommended Reading: The Legacy of Maria Poveka Martinez by Richard L. Spivey, 2003