Cruz, Crucita – Bowl with Water Designs (1930’s)

$ 300.00

Crucita Cruz one of the early revivalists in San Juan pottery. She did not make a lot of pottery during her career, but her work is exceptionally creative.  This bowl is from the 1930’s.  It has incised wave designs which are tan. The area above the waves is matte red while the rim and base are polished red.  The bowl is signed on the bottom with a white clay slip, “Crucita T. Cruz”. This style of signing pottery with a white clay slip was popular in the late 1930s at Santa Clara Pueblo and also at San Juan.  The bowl is in very good condition with no chips, cracks, restoration or repair.

Crucita Cruz was one of the Original Eight San Juan potters who revived the art form in the 1930s.  The Pueblo was renown for their pottery but by about 1890 there were no potters left. In 1930 Regina Cata organized a pottery study group at San Juan Pueblo with the intent of revitalizing pottery production. The group studied ancient potsherds of wares made at San Juan in earlier times and selected Potsuwi‘i Incised Ware (1450-1500) as a basis for a contemporary pottery type.