Sanchez, Russell – Polychrome Relief Carved Avanyu Bowl with 65 Stones

5"w x 3.75"h

$ 7,200.00

This is an exceptional polychrome bowl 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 bowl is deeply carved with an avanyu in relief.  This is one of the few pieces he has carved so deeply into the clay.  The edges of the carving are rounded out so that there is the appearance that it is in relief on the surface of the bowl. The avanyu is slipped with black and red clay much like the black and red clay polychrome pieces made by Maria Martinez & Popovi Da (see last two photos).  There are inset pieces of jet in the back of the avanyu and the eye and horn have Lone Mountain Turquoise stones. There are two red polished bear paws above the avanyu, each with an inset piece of turquoise.  The bottom of the bowl is fully polished red.  There is also inset band of black jet hei-shi around the bowl.  It is an exceptional piece in design, detail, and composition.  The bowl was traditionally fired and the stone s added after the firing.  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 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.