Tonita Roybal remains one of the great innovative names in San Ildefonso pottery.  This open bowl is fully polished on the front and back.  It is from the early 1920s, as it has her earliest style of signature on the back.  The design is unusual with swirling rain clouds and rain designs.  The edge has rounded rain clouds. The composition of the design may well be inspired by the work of Nampeyo of Hano, with whom Tonita was fascinated as a potter.  The plate was fired to a silvery black coloration.  It is in very good condition with no chips, cracks, restoration, or repair.  It is signed, “Tonita” in the clay on the back.  It is a bit worn, but it is the black-on-black painted signature of her early work that was patined onto the piece before it was fired.