San Ildefonso Pueblo Set of Three Figurines & Photo [SOLD]

José Encarnacion Peña is known to have been a painter of dance scenes at the pueblo but apparently he was multi-talented.  He must have become a potter a year or so before he passed away in 1979.  This family of pottery figurines was made by Peña in 1978 and presented to Katherine Rust along with a photograph of him at work as a potter.  This photograph is included with the figurine set.

It appears that this set comprises a male and female, as parents, and a female as a daughter.  The father figure has a drumstick in his hand but no drum.  All three are structurally in original condition, but some of the paint has flaked off the figures, but not sufficient to mar the appearance.

I do not know how many pottery figurines the artist may have made.  The two in the photograph are different from the three in this set, so it is obvious he made more than this one presentation set.  Regardless, I think this is a very rare set of pottery figurines by this artist and is well worth adding to any collection of storyteller or other figurative pottery. 

The price is for the set of three figurines and the photograph (see below) of the artist.

Provenance:  from the Katherine H. Rust collection

Recommended Reading:  Southwest Indian Painting: a changing art by Clara Lee Tanner