This is a very unusually complex designed large jar by Margaret Tafoya.  It is from the late 1940s. The jar has a high shoulder and a short neck.  The clay used to make this jar is less dense, giving the piece a lighter weight, than later pieces. The neck and base are fully polished.  Aound the center of the jar is a very intricately designed avanyu (water serpent).  There are a lot of curls and swirls to the design, that we don’t see later in her work.  As well, there is a rounded cloud pattern above the avanyu that is also unusual, as she rarely used the negative space of the jar for her designs.  The jar was very highly fired giving areas a silvery appearance.  There are some areas that have a bit of texture from the high heat of the firing, which was not unusual at this time.  The jar is exceptional in design and form.  It’s not often that we see such intricate early pieces of her work in such great condition.  The jar is signed on the bottom in the clay, “Margaret Tafoya”.  It is a bit hard to read, but it is signed into the clay before firing.  It is in very good condition with no chips, cracks, restoration, or repair.   

“My mom had seen a water serpent when she was very young.  It was known to our people, that if you saw something like that, you would have a very long life.  That is what grandfather told our mom, that she would have a very long life.  They always talked about, the old people, that anywhere there was water it would be controlled by a water serpent or spirit.  That is why water is always associated with this design.  I heard stories that they say water serpents should go to the left.  That’s what she told me.  That someday, when the world turns, it will turn to the right.  But she (Margaret) did them both ways.”  Shirley Tafoya, Mary Ester Archuleta, Born of Fire