A San Ildefonso polychrome jar
A San Ildefonso polychrome jar
Attributed to Marianita Roybal, repeating "rain-far-off" motifs encircling the body, a band of vegetal designs at the neck.
height 10 1/2in, diameter 10 3/4in
Sold for US$ 4,000 inc. premium

Footnotes

  • Cf:
    Batkin, Jonathan, 1991, p. 61, ill. 4

    There were only a few potters at San Ildefonso Pueblo in the mid- to late-1800s. According to Jonathan Batkin, Marianita Roybal is the earliest potter who can be identified by name. Fortunately for recorded history, she made a pitcher on commission for one Colonel Green on which she painted her name and the year 1881. There is no mistaking the maker of this pitcher which is in the collection of the School for Advanced Research in Santa Fe. This pitcher is the earliest known signed pottery by anyone from any pueblo.

    Marianita Roybal showed up in the United States census of 1850 and must have been young as she was listed as living with her parents. According to the 1890 census, she was married and had a child who was then seven years old. In the 1910 census, she is listed as a potter along with only seven other women of the pueblo. It is known that Marianita potted until at least 1910, the last U. S. census in which she appeared.

    The globular shape of this vessel is identical to those in SAR, but even more telling are the large black elements that resemble cloud formations on the body of the jar. They are identical to the cloud elements on the neck of a jar at SAR.

    Jonathan Batkin in the article "Three Great Potters of San Ildefonso and Their Legacy" includes her as one of the preeminent potters of the time.

Category: Ethnographic Art / Native American


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