Adobe Gallery Blog
Black Carved Jar with Avanyu Design by Margaret Tafoya - C3812B
Category: Pottery | Posted by | Fri, Aug 26th 2016, 1:34pm
In the mid-twentieth century, Margaret Tafoya produced many very large pottery vessels and then in the 1960s-1970s, she produced many smaller vessels such as this jar. Not only was she capable of creating a beautiful vessel shape but she obtained a smooth finish and high burnish and then proceeded to execute a precise carved design.
The design is a stylized Avanyu (water serpent) rotating in a counterclockwise direction. The small triangle is the eye of the Avanyu and the curved part of the head is the plume on the head. The four wave-like carvings are part of the serpent's body.