This is a historically inspired jar by LuAnn Tafoya.  She is a daughter of Margaret Tafoya and learned to make the large vessels from her mother.  This jar has a high shoulder and a short neck.  The design is an impressed avanyu or snake.  When you feel inside the bowl, you can feel where areas have been both pushed in and then some areas where the design is carved. This imagery and style of carving are inspired by a famous jar by her grandmother, Sarafina Tafoya.  Sarafina made the first Santa Clara carved ware around 1921-22 and she made a total of 12 pieces.  In the last photo, you can see the jar by Sarafina (fired black) that inspired this jar by LuAnn. The jar was fully polished at one time, which is amazing considering the various angles and ridges on the piece.  However, polishing is one aspect of the art at which LuAnn is famous.  The jar was fired traditionally fired red.  It is signed on the bottom in the clay, “LuAnn Tafoya”.  It is in excellent condition with no chips, cracks, restoration, or repair.  It’s always exciting when an artist pulls from historic and family precedent to create modernist interpretations.