Small Red Jar with Sgraffito Avanyu Design [SOLD]

A method of pottery design known as sgraffito carving is relatively new in pueblo pottery traditions.  Rather than deep carving, as is more traditional at Santa Clara Pueblo, sgraffito is achieved by scraping the vessel with a sharp instrument to achieve a shallow depth.  The pottery is formed in the traditional coil method, slipped with a watery clay and stone polished before the sgraffito carving commences.

Grace Medicine Flower stated “Sgraffito carving is very precise and painstaking work.  One of the marks of a true artist is not only the design but also the fine-line work making up the design.  Carved after the pot is dried and polished, but before it is fired, one slip of the knife, one tiny chip and the design can be ruined.  There is no chance for erasure, there is no chance for recovery.”

Grace Medicine Flower is a member of the renowned Tafoya family of Santa Clara Pueblo.  Her grandmother was Sara Fina Tafoya.  Her parents were Camilio Sunflower Tafoya (brother of Margaret Tafoya) and Agapita Yellow Flower Tafoya.  Her brother is the equally famous Joseph Lonewolf.

She started her pottery career making traditional deep carved pottery before she and her brother Joseph transitioned to sgraffito carving in the early 1970s.  This jar is signed and dated 1974, so it is one of her early sgraffito vessels.  The main design, just above the shoulder, is a wrap-around image of an Avanyu (water serpent).

Condition: original condition

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

Provenance: from a family from Santa Fe who is beginning to downsize its very large collection of pottery and paintings by New Mexico Native artists.