Rose Gonzales is often considered the first at San Ildefonso Pueblo to make carved pottery. However, over the course of her career, she created a variety of styles, including plainware and painted and carved pottery.  This jar is her most famous shape with a sharp shoulder and sloping neck.  Rose carved her pottery with a “cameo” style where the design often seems to be carved right in relief on the vessel’s surface.  Here, the water serpent (avanyu) is carved around the top of the shoulder of the jar.  The entire piece is fully polished and fired a glassy black.  The jar is in excellent condition with no chips, cracks, restoration or repair.  It is signed, “Rose” on the bottom in the clay.