Melchor, Santana – Small Jar with Plant Designs (1970s)

3.25"w x 3"h

$ 185.00

Santana Melchor was one of the great potters from Santo Domingo throughout the 1900’s. This is a striking jar from the early 1970s.  The surface of the jar is polished and then painted with mineral slips.  The jar has a series of panels with plant designs.  The rim has the classic Santo Domingo “spirit line” where there is a space in the painting.  The interior is slipped with red clay.  What you can’t feel is the surface, which is burnished, has a smoother than expected feel, and the black a deeper appearance. It is signed on the bottom, “Santana Melchor”.  The jar is in excellent condition with no chips, cracks, restoration, or repair.  One of the few smaller pieces of her work we have seen.   Did you know she was present in the 1974 delegation of Pueblo potters who visited the White House as a guest of first lady Pat Nixon (see last photo).