Santa Clara Pueblo Blackware Basket Pot By Madeline Naranjo

Mid/Late 20th Century

6.25" H x 4.625" x 4.25" D with Twisted Handle

Hand Coiled Clay Pottery and Fired to a Deep Black Glossy Color with a Carved Matte Water Serpent

Excellent Condition

Madeline Naranjo (1916–2020) was a renowned potter from Santa Clara Pueblo in New Mexico, active for over 75 years starting in the mid-1930s. She specialized in blackware pottery, earning numerous awards at events like the Santa Fe Indian Market, New Mexico State Fair, and the Governor's Award. Her work is celebrated for its deep carving, stone-polishing techniques, and innovative contrasts between highly burnished surfaces and matte finishes. Naranjo learned the craft from her grandmother as a teenager and passed it on to family members, including her granddaughter Madeline E. Naranjo. She was part of a lineage of influential Santa Clara artists, connected to figures like Margaret Tafoya and Sara Fina Tafoya, who pioneered deep-carved blackware in the late 1920s.