Santa Clara Pueblo Black Carved Wedding Vase by Legoria Tafoya [SOLD]

This carved black pottery wedding vase was made by Legoria Tafoya of Santa Clara Pueblo. Legoria was a gifted potter who worked most frequently in the traditional carved styles. She created a variety of forms and was notably known for smaller figures and vessels. This is the largest of her pieces we have seen.

With this piece, Legoria offered a form that is impressive by any measure. From any angle, the form is stylish and beautiful. It is a foot tall, with a globular lower chamber and a pair of spouts that gracefully spread outward but are restrained by a twisted arched handle.

Legoria enhanced the beauty of the vessel with carved designs unlike any I have seen before. The design has a definite modernist flare of circles, vertical and horizontal lines of depression, and flames roaring upward on the sides of the body. This is inventive work, and it was executed with remarkable precision and admirable style.

Legoria Tafoya (1911-1984), painter Pablita Velarde, and potter Jane Baca were sisters. Legoria was the oldest and Pablita the youngest. Legoria devoted her career to making traditional black pottery in the Santa Clara Pueblo style, as did Baca. They were taught the art of pottery making by their grandmother in the 1930s. Legoria's early works were mostly animal figurines, which came to be extremely popular with tourists. She went on to become a celebrated potter, winning many awards and placing works in prominent collections. All three sisters exhibited at Enchanted Mesa Gallery in Albuquerque, which was owned by Fred and Margarete Chase.

Condition: very good condition with minor extremely insignificant scratches

Provenance: this Santa Clara Pueblo Black Carved Wedding Vase by Legoria Tafoya is from the estate of an Albuquerque family

Recommended Reading and Reference: Pueblo Indian Pottery: 750 Artist Biographies by Gregory Schaaf

TAGS: Pablita Velarde, pottery, Albuquerque, figurines, Santa Clara Pueblo, Santa Fe, Legoria Tafoya