This is an unusual tall carved jar by Margaret Tafoya.  The jar was made in the 1940s with a lighter weight clay and the earlier deep red clay color on the surface.  The jar is coil-built and has a high shoulder.  It is not the shape that is unusual, but the design.  It is carved with two larger birds, bird wing designs, and even an older style avanyu!  The designs are creative and fluid through the entire piece.  Stylistically, it is imagery that would not be unusual for Margaret in the 1940s, but certainly much more complicated than many of her later pieces.  The background area is slipped with the traditional white clay.  All the carved areas are stone polished with a deep red clay.  This clay was primarily used in the 1930s-40s, but it was lost, and the new slip for polishing was more orange than red. The jar was traditionally fired with slight color variations to the surface.  It’s exciting to come across such creative pieces of her early pottery!  It is signed on the bottom, “Margaret Tafoya”.  It is in very good condition with no chips, cracks, restoration, or repair.  Definitely an historically important jar by this major name in Pueblo art!