Sanchez, Russell – Polychrome Box with Mountain Designs

2.25"w x 4"h (w/ lid)

$ 3,200.00

This is a complex polychrome box 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.  The box is round in shape and has a lid with a long finial. The lower section of the box is polished white and incised with mountain and plant designs.  The designs are all etched into the clay before firing. The incised areas are slipped black and red, which is very time-consuming.  Note the last photo which has the black, red, and white clay before they are used in the pottery.  Above the main design is a band of black-on-red rain designs and a polished red rim.  The lid has a white polished rim and a black handle. The box has inset turquoise and hematite hei-shi beads along with inset turquoise. The top of the lid also has an additional inset piece of turquoise. The designs are inspired by the San Ildefonso polychrome open bowls from the 1890s. All the colors are derived from natural clays and inspired by historic San Ildefonso polychrome pottery (black/red/white), using many of the same clays!  The 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 bowl 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.