Margaret Tafoya, Large Black Santa Clara Bowl

Description

I purchased this large bowl-shaped jar seven years ago from the venerable Len Wood's Indian Territory store in Laguna Beach, CA, for ,000. It was made by Margaret Tafoya (1904-2001), daughter of the pioneering Tewa potter Sara Fina Gutierrez Tafoya and one of the iconic potters of the American Southwest.  It is deeply carved and has a high, hard black surface polish.  Created in 1950, it is a 6 X 9 1/4 inch example of hand-coiled clay pottery.  It has two small, shallow hairline cracks, one of which is barely visible in photo 7 at roughly 8 o'clock.  The other is also visible in photo 7 at roughly 2 o'clock and near the top center of photo 4.  As Wood states in his appended assessment of this jar, if not for the two hairline cracks this stunning Tafoya bowl would have sold for nearly twice what I paid for it.