This is a creative polychrome plate by Russell Sanchez.   He continues to be one of the true innovators and revivalists in Pueblo pottery.  Each piece is perfectly coil-built, stone-polished, and etched.  This plate has a black polished rim and below is a band of checkerboard designs.  The checkerboard is polished red, black, and matte.  There are inset pieces of turquoise and a row of turquoise hei-shi beads and a row of jet hei-shi beads.  The center of the plate is polished white.  There is an etched avanyu as the design along with clouds.  There are inset turquoise stong along the body of the avanyu and for the eye and horn.  In total there are 97 inset pieces of turquoise on this plate!  Take a closer look at the avanyu.  It is highlighted with both black and red clay slips.  This style was inspired by the black-and-red lines on the polychrome pottery of Maria Martinez & Popovi Da (see last two photos).  The plate was traditionally fired. The clay colorations of black, red, and white are all seen in San Ildefonso pottery from the 1880s to about 1920.  His deep red clay is another recent addition to his clay art starting around 2005.  As Russell continues to innovate from historic designs, he says, “Tradition means moving forward and adding to it. You keep moving forward.  If we stayed stagnant we would no longer exist.”  The jar is signed on the bottom in the clay, “Russell”.  It is exciting to see how this imagery is not new but Russell’s reinterpretation of it both modernizes and revives.