Dolores Curran creates intricately incised and painted pottery.  This box is one of her pieces which is fully painted buff-on-red.  The bowl is round and the sides are painted with dragonflies, feathers, cloud and rain designs.  The design near the rim of the box is a water serpent, which encircles the piece.  The designs are incredibly intricate and detailed.  The top of the box is a lid with a feather pattern on the finial and below that is a water serpent. There are dragonflies and prayer feather bundles also painted on the top of the lid.  Dragonflies are often depicted as Prayer Messengers.  In terms of painted designs, Dolores has to first polish the box and lid, and then painted the designs.  They are painted over between four and five times!  The first time is to outline the design, the deepen the outline.  Then the designs are filled-in and then painted over again. Finally, the entire piece is painted over one more time for consistency in color!  The polishing on the piece is exceptional as note the reflection of the finial on the top of the lid in the surrounding polished surface!  WOW!  The piece is signed on the bottom in the clay, “Dolores Curran”.  It is in excellent condition with no chips, cracks, restoration or repair.