Sanchez, Russell – Polychrome Wedding Vase with Sun Design

3.25"w x 4.5"h

$ 2,400.00

This is wedding vase by Russell Sanchez incorporates three different colors of clay.  The top half is a lighter red clay, while the center band has a black clay slip.  The bottom of the vase is a deep red.  The wedding vase is etched with a sun designs extending down towards the base.  Note that one side has a checkerboard pattern etched into the clay while the opposite has dots.  Russell has been taking inspiration from the work of early San Ildefonso potters Tonita Roybal and Florentino Montoya for his designs.  They are not copied but his own interpretation and revival of these creative designs.  The shape of the wedding vase is elegant with a strong proportion between the shoulder and the spouts.  Wedding vases are considered difficult to polish as the handles and spouts create unusual angles and directions in which the piece must be turned.  It was traditionally fired and after the firing Russell inset two bands of jet hei-shi beads.  The vase is signed on the bottom in the clay.   Once again Russell deftly revives historic San Idlefonso designs and stories and uses them for his own contemporary work.

Russell Sanchez: Contemporizing the Pueblo Pottery Past