San Ildefonso Pueblo Pottery By Maria and Julian Martinez

ca 1925-1943
3.25" H x 4.5" D
Black on black with geometric design
Excellent Condition
Maria Poveka Montoya Martinez (c. 1887–1980) was a Tewa artist from San Ildefonso Pueblo, New Mexico, celebrated for reviving and innovating Pueblo pottery. She learned traditional pottery techniques from her aunt, Nicolasa Peña Montoya, starting around age 11. With her husband, Julian Martinez, she developed the iconic black-on-black pottery style around 1918–1919, characterized by a glossy black finish with matte designs, achieved through a unique oxygen-reduction firing process using smothered fires with manure. This technique transformed red clay pots to black, with designs like the avanyu (horned water serpent), feathers, and geometric patterns inspired by ancestral Pueblo motifs.
Maria shaped and polished the pots, while Julian painted the designs until his death in 1943. Later, she collaborated with her daughter-in-law Santana Martinez (1943–1956) and son Popovi Da (1956–1971), who introduced innovations like sienna (double-fired) and polychrome pottery.