Posted 7 years ago
PotteryGuy
(1 item)
Purchased at Antique Mall, trying to identify
4 1/2" High, 6 3/4" wide at protrusions, 5 3/4" OD at body, 3 1/4" dia. at lip
Hand built, Assembled as 2 pieces, top folded onto round bottom, Burnished black clay, reduction fired
crude carved decoration
Though I am not familiar with this artist, this is called "barro negro" pottery. Most of it comes from Oaxaca, Mexico. It is not Mata Ortiz.
Thanks for the clue. This is very accurate. Likely a tourist shop purchase that was brought to Arizona. I was able to google Barro Negro and found much information. "Located only 8 miles from Oaxaca City, the small town of San Bartolo Coyotepec is famous for its unique black pottery. Lovers of local arts and crafts will find the work quite charismatic. Each piece carries a decorative, textured, often floral motif that is finished to a highly burnished black patina. Nowadays, virtually the entire town is involved in the production and sale of this pottery. "
Search of artist who signed the piece may remain a mystery.
Although San Bartolo Coyotepec has been famous for making black pottery for a lot longer than Mata Ortiz, this particular turtle bowl is definitely Mata Ortiz.
Mata Ortiz pottery has only been made for the world market since the 1980s, but the potters there progressed rapidly, from making replicas of prehistoric Casas Grandes pots, to developing their own styles and becoming a world famous center of Mexican art pottery. By the 1990s, black pottery was said to be the most popular type of pottery made at Mata Ortiz.
Several Mata Ortiz potters are known for their black turtle effigy bowls. Since there are only around 400 potters there, and several reference books on the topic, as well as a few web sites, it should be possible to find who made this. You could start with a web search for "Mata Ortiz black turtle effigy bowl" or something similar.
The style of Mata Ortiz pots, with their rounded. polished bottoms, and incised signatures differs significantly from that of Oaxacan black pottery, but you will still find a few misidentified on the internet, mostly taken from web sites like Etsy and eBay.
Thanks for more great information. The $ I paid for this has been re-paid many times with the fun I'm having researching this interesting pot.
Trust CanyonRoad - he knows more about this subject than I ever will.
I was able to find 2 very similar turtle bowls - one on ebay and one on etsy. Decoration on the bowl I have was done with a finer carving tool and top opening is very accurately "round". Artists name remains a mystery. My guess is "Lidia Quitui C".