San ildefonso pottery

DEFINITION

From a Tewa-speaking Indian Pueblo north of Santa Fe, New Mexico, San Ildefenso Pottery of the 20th century is polished black-on-black ware. Its most famous potter is Maria Martinez. She often signed her work "Maria" or "Marie" and is thought to be the first Pueblo potter to sign a pot. She and her husband, Julian, developed the unique blackware by using powdered dung in the firing process that changed the traditional red pots to black. The couple worked together until his death in 1943. She died in 1980.Source:"Native American Art of the Southwest" by Linda Eaton