Object Notes

2014.26.3 Black-on-black jar with geometric designs (San Ildefonso Pueblo, New Mexico)


GENERAL DESCRIPTION  
This black-on-black jar by famed Pueblo artist Maria Martinez combines ancient Indian symbolism and ceramic techniques with a sleek austerity akin to 20th-century American design aesthetics. Martinez began experimenting with blackware following a commission from archaeologists to re-create ancient Indian pottery excavated near San Ildefonso, New Mexico.

2011.45 Classic Mimbres Black-on-white bowl: geometric composition and radiating feathers (New Mexico, Mogollon (Mimbres))


GENERAL DESCRIPTION  
Mimbres potters developed one of the Southwest’s most appealing painting styles, distinguished by geometric compositions and narrative imagery that provides an eloquent record of Mimbres life. The painting on many Mimbres vessels suggests concepts of sacred space or cosmic geography.