This is a very unusual polychrome tile by Ramona Gonzales.  Ramona was known for her delicately painted pottery.  Amazingly, over the past 25 years, I’ve only had one other polychrome piece by Ramona, and it was a plate.  This tile has two holes in it so it was probably made to be hung on a wall.  The design is a water serpent (avanyu).  It is a beautiful flow of design as it shows the avanyu coming out of the mountains.  It is very tightly painted with black and red on a white background.  The back of the tile is slipped with red clay and it is signed in the clay, “Ramona”.  It is in very good condition with no chips, cracks, restoration, or repair.  Definitely a rarity in the work by Ramona as well as early San Ildefonso pottery from the 1920s.  Includes a lucite stand for display.

Early San Ildefonso Pottery Innovators -1920-1940