This is an intricately carved box by Chris Youngblood. The box is square in shape.  It is deeply carved with a male and female avanyu encircling the piece.  They are deeply carved with swirls and sharp angles and fully polished.  The rim of the box is slipped with mica and there is a ledge carved for the lid to sit. The lid of the box is carved with an avanyu on each side.  One is male, the other female. They give the box it’s name, “From the Waves”.  Note as well how the lid is carved with the wave designs on the top of the lid!  The Avanyu, or water serpent, is a design often seen in Santa Clara Pueblo pottery and is part of a story where the avanyu saves the village from a flood.  The lid is as exceptional as the box, as it is flat and fully carved.

“The curved-down horn is the female avanyu and the kiva-step horn is the male avanyu. I love to carve. That is my favorite process in the whole pottery making.”  Nancy Youngblood, Spoken Through Clay

Both the lid and the box are perfectly fit with one another.  They were traditionally fired to a glassy black. They are signed, “Chris Youngblood”.