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Mid/Late 20th Century
1.375" H x 8" D
Black on Black Dish with Feather Design and 2 Animal Prints Signed by Santana and
Adam Excellent Condition with Very Light Wear
San Ildefonso Pueblo, located north of Santa Fe, New Mexico, is renowned for its hand-coiled black-on-black pottery tradition, which gained worldwide acclaim through innovators like Maria Martinez. Santana Roybal Martinez (1909–2002) and Adam Martinez (c. 1903–2000) were prominent potters from this lineage. Adam was Maria Martinez's eldest son, and Santana, his wife, came from a family of skilled potters and painters—her grandmother Dominguita Pino Martinez was a noted black-on-red potter, and her brother Awa Tsireh (Alfonso Roybal) was a celebrated Pueblo painter. The couple married in 1926 and initially lived with Maria and Julian Martinez, learning their techniques: Santana handled potting, painting, and polishing, while Adam gathered clay and managed firings.
After Julian's death in 1943, Santana assisted Maria with decoration (signing pieces "Maria + Santana" until 1956), and Adam supported firings. From the mid-1950s onward, Santana and Adam created their own pottery, signing it "Santana + Adam." Their work exemplifies traditional blackware: coils of local clay are hand-built, stone-polished to a mirror-like sheen, matte-painted with geometric or feather motifs, and reduction-fired in outdoor manure pits to achieve the signature iridescent black. They participated annually in the Santa Fe Indian Market from 1970 to 1999, winning multiple awards, including First, Second, and Third Place ribbons, Best of Class, Best of Division, and in 1981, the Maria Poveka Award for Best Traditional San Ildefonso Pottery.
Provenance: From the Len and Toni Wood Private Collection, Laguna Beach, California
Condition:
Excellent
Tribe:
San Ildefonso
Year Range:
1950 - 1975
Region:
Southwest
Dimensions:
1.38 in8 in
Category:
Pottery Bowls and Jars Post 1940
Artist:
Martinez, Adam and Santana
