Stone Polished Black Jar with Twisted Melon Ribs [SOLD]

Jars with melon ribs are fashioned after melons such as cantaloupe.  Whether cantaloupe was the inspiration for such jars is not known but it certainly is suspected.  Several potters from Santa Clara Pueblo have in the past made melon jars, but Angela Baca is among the best known for doing so. She is most likely represented in every collection of contemporary pottery with one of her black melon jars, the style and shape that has been associated with her since the 1960s.  She was quite likely the first potter to produce them.

Vessels in the melon style are coil-formed, with a large diameter coil, and allowed to dry to a leather-hard state, then they are carved with the distinctive ribs. After carving, the clay is slipped in iron-bearing red clay, then intricately stone-polished on all exterior surfaces, including the tiny spaces between the ribs. The pottery is then fired in a smothered, reduction atmosphere to achieve the superb black finish.

In this melon jar, Angela formed the ribs into a swirl.  Each rib is wider in its center and narrower at the top and bottom of the jar. The jar is signed Angela Baca Santa Clara on the base.

Condition: there are a couple of minor abrasions confined to one section of the jar.

Reference: Santa Clara Pottery Today by Betty LeFree

Provenance: from a gentleman from South Dakota