Youngblood, Nancy – Rainbow Rim Water Jar with Carved Shells
$ 36,000.00
Nancy Youngblood is renowned for her deeply carved and highly polished pottery. This is a large water jar with “raindrop rim” and carved shells on the neck. The rim has 36 ribs. They are each deeply carved and fully polished. The neck is carved with three rows of shells. Each shell has a raised edge, much like her melon ribs. The base of the jar is slipped with mica. The jar was traditionally fired a deep, glassy black coloration. Nancy said of this water jar shape:
“I got the idea from seeing a picture of Sara Fina’s work. Her jar had a fluted top, and the swirl went from the left to the right and ended at the raised rainbow band on the shoulder. The bottom was plain. I wanted to take the shape and make it uniquely mine so I carried the swirl below the shoulder to the base. I deliberately curved in my fluted rim to make it more distinctive. Technically, this is one of the most difficult pieces to polish because you are continually flipping it around. You polish one side of a rib, and then you have to flip it real fast and polish the other side.
TIt is quite spectacular in person! The piece is fired a deep black. It is signed on the bottom in the clay, “Nancy Youngblood”.
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Nancy Youngblood is renowned for her deeply carved and highly polished pottery. This is a classic water jar shape with a round body and turned out rim. The jar is VERY deeply carved with eight ribs. How deep you ask? I measured the depth of the ribs on the shoulder and they are a HALF INCH deep! It is amazing to carve so deeply and with such fluid symmetry and perfect angle to catch the light. Although the ribs are deep and spectacular, it is the rim that is so exciting on this piece. On the top of the rim, each rib is rounded out. BUT! Look underneath and you can see how the space between each rib spirals upward. Nancy said of this water jar shape:
“I got the idea from seeing a picture of Sara Fina’s work. Her jar had a fluted top, and the swirl went from the left to the right and ended at the raised rainbow band on the shoulder. The bottom was plain. I wanted to take the shape and make it uniquely mine so I carried the swirl below the shoulder to the base. I deliberately curved in my fluted rim to make it more distinctive. Technically, this is one of the most difficult pieces to polish because you are continually flipping it around. You polish one side of a rib, and then you have to flip it real fast and polish the other side.
The jar is highly polished with each rib having a striking appearance. The piece was traditionally fired a glassy black. It is quite spectacular in person! The piece is fired a deep black. It is signed on the bottom in the clay, “Nancy Youngblood”. Nancy has won numerous awards for her melon bowls and this is undoubtedly a classic of her style!
Technically it’s really hard to keep the little end of the rib at the top and the very bottom even and not break. That’s my style of lid with the round top. My grandmother [Margaret Tafoya] used to do those on a larger scale years ago, but when she got to be in her late seventies she stopped doing that kind of lid. It was tough to do. My lids are different from most other potters’ lids. Some people do “floaters”; my grandmother did that a lot of times. I always like to fit the lid into the piece. That is the hardest thing to do. I fire the lid with the piece.” Nancy Youngblood, Spoken Through Clay
