While Blue Corn is often best known for her polychrome pottery, she began her career making black pottery. This large bowl is one of her early pieces from the 1960s and it is deeply carved with an avanyu.  The style of the carving is much like that seen in other early San Ildefonso potters, with a “cameo style”.  The avanyu encircles the shoulder of the bowl and the surrounding space is carved away and matte.  The rim of the bowl is fully polished, as is the base.  The head of the avanyu has black-on-black painted eyes and teeth.  It is not often that we see such complex carved pieces of this size.  It is signed on the bottom in the clay “Blue Corn, San Ildefonso”.  There is a piece of tape on the bottom which has the original price of $240.  I left it on, but it can also be removed if requested.  The bowl is in very good condition with no chips, cracks, restoration or repair.