San Ildefonso Large Black and Sienna Lidded Jar [SOLD]

Russell Sanchez is recognized as one of the major innovators of pueblo pottery and quite possibly the finest potter of this style living today.  His restless imagination is a key to his success in creating a never-ending variety of work.  He is not an artist who repeats the same shape and style over and over but an artist whose imagination pours forth with new ideas—ideas, Russell says, that are determined by the clay.  The start of every pottery vessel is in his hands but the outcome is dictated by what direction the clay takes.  Mother Earth is his collaborator.

The prime element of design is a sgraffito deer situated in a sienna medallion.  Around the edges of the medallion is a series of dots spaced about 1/8^th-inch apart.  A row of extremely fine shell and turquoise hieshe forms the edge of the medallion and a beautiful triangular-shape Kingman turquoise cab highlights the body of the deer.

A pair of Avanyu (water serpent) adorn opposing sides of the body, the head of each directed toward the deer.  Kingman turquoise cabs of the most beautiful matrix serve as eyes of the Avanyu.  The main body of the jar is stone-polished black and the upper section around the rim is in matte micaceous clay. 

The lid is polished black with polished green slip at the tip.  A string of hieshe is imbedded into the green slip and a Kingman turquoise cab rests on the top.  Russell suggests that the jar is equally attractive with or without the lid—a decision left to the collector.

The jar is a magnificent work of art. The vessel shape provides just the surface needed to support the design concept.  Russell (San Ildefonso Pueblo) said that he achieved the black and sienna coloration in a single firing—something not previously accomplished.  Normally, the sienna color is obtained after the regular firing.  He did not elaborate on how he accomplished this feat.

Condition: new

Provenance: from the artist

Recommended Reading: Art of Clay: Timeless Pottery of the Southwest by Lee Cohen