Mata Ortiz Pottery Butterfly Olla with Sgraffito, Signed Ivonn H.

North America, Mexico, Chihuahua, Mata Ortiz. A hand-built olla from Mata Ortiz with a squat body, a broad sloping shoulder, and a short cylindrical neck. On the burnished buff ground, black and rust-orange butterflies are spaced evenly around the body. Each butterfly's wings are dotted with small incised circles, and fine scratched lines segment the bodies, letting the pale clay show through the slip. Below the neck runs a rust band with an incised zigzag of triangles. The flat silhouettes and the scratched-through detailing are typical of the village's contemporary potters. The underside is signed "Ivonn H. Mexico." Mata Ortiz is a small village in northwestern Chihuahua, near the ruins of Paquimé (Casas Grandes). In the 1970s the self-taught potter Juan Quezada began reviving pottery-making there, studying the polychrome sherds that turned up around the ancient site. He worked out by trial and error how to collect local clays, make mineral paints, and build vessels by hand without a wheel. Many local families took up the craft, and today the village has hundreds of working potters. Their signed vessels are collected internationally. A Certificate of Authenticity will accompany all winning bids. Item # 206132

Estimate:£150.3

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