This is a classic small bowl by Mary Ester Archuleta.  Mary is the second youngest daughter of Margaret Tafoya.  She married into San Juan Pueblo in the late 1960’s and created most of her pieces in the San Juan inspired style.  This small bowl reminds us of a contemporized version of the classic San Juan red and tan bowls of the early 1900’s. This bowl is fully polished red on the outside and then polished tan on the inside! The tan is the natural color of the clay and always difficult to achieve this coloration.  While Mary no longer makes much pottery, her work from the 1970’s was beautifully carved, polished and fired.  She was important in the re-revial of San Juan (Ohkay Owingeh) pottery in the 1970’s.  The bowl is signed on the bottom in the clay, “Mary E. Archuleta.  It is in excellent condition with no chips, cracks, restoration or repair.