Adobe Gallery Blog
San Ildefonso Pueblo Polychrome Jar with Red Rim - SC3680F
Tesuque and San Ildefonso Pueblo are somewhat neighbors. The people speak the same language and their historic pottery is similar in shape and design. It is sometimes difficult to make the determination which pueblo was responsible for a specific jar. Batkin (see reference), stated that collections made at Tesuque in the 1870 to 1880 period showed that the designs were of recent evolution. Is it likely that Tesuque potters styled their designs on those seen at San Ildefonso? Of course, we will never know for sure but it is quite possible that was the sequence.
San Ildefonso switched from its traditional cream slip, that required stone polishing, to the bentonite slip used by Cochiti Pueblo potters, around 1905. Tesuque switched also, but probably did not start to do so until a decade later and some potters did not change until the 1940s. Potters at San Ildefonso began changing the color of the rim from red to black as early as 1897. Tesuque potters switched rim color from red to black in the 1880s.