Maria and Julian Martinez San Ildefonso Black on Black Wedding Vase Signed

Native American, San Ildefonso Pueblo, Maria and Julian Martinez. A twin-spouted wedding vase in polished blackware, signed on the underside by Maria and Julian Martinez of San Ildefonso Pueblo. A rounded, slightly flattened body rises into two flaring spouts with softly lobed rims, joined by an arched strap handle that leaves an oval opening between them. The surface was stone-burnished to a deep, mirror-like sheen. Against it, matte slip motifs are painted in a second, flat black: a fanned three-part leaf or feather device below the handle on each face, with angular elements on the sides. This interplay of gloss and matte defines the celebrated black-on-black style. The form recalls the Pueblo wedding vessel, which tradition associates with a couple drinking from separate spouts. This example was likely made for the collector market rather than for ceremonial use. Maria Montoya Martinez and her husband Julian Martinez are the best-known partnership in twentieth-century Pueblo ceramics. Maria formed and burnished the vessels by hand-coiling, without a wheel. Julian painted the decoration and developed much of the design vocabulary that became associated with San Ildefonso. Around 1918 to 1920 the couple perfected black-on-black ware, building on archaeological sherds recovered near the pueblo and on older local blackware traditions. The black color comes from the firing rather than from a glaze. The burnished pots are fired outdoors, and the fire is then smothered with powdered manure. This cuts off the oxygen and drives carbon into the red-firing clay body. Designs painted before firing in a thin clay slip do not take the burnish, so they come out of the kiln matte against the polished ground. Signatures help date San Ildefonso work. Maria's pots were at first unsigned. They later carried "Marie," the spelling she used in the market, and then "Marie & Julian" until Julian's death in 1943. After that she signed with her son Popovi Da ("Marie & Popovi") and with other relatives, and later as "Maria Poveka." A "Marie & Julian" signature therefore places a vessel within the couple's shared working years. A Certificate of Authenticity will accompany all winning bids. Item # 206400

Estimate:£891.82

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