Christopher Youngblood is able to combine a family tradition of excellence with his own patience and growing proficiency and creativity as a potter.  Over the past several years his work has grown and transformed from classic ribbed melon bowls to elegant lidded vessels with perfectly carved lids. This bowl is carved with his own stylized version of the water serpent (avanyu) encircling the bowl.  Note how the body of the avanyu changes as the bowl is turned.  The remainder of the bowl is matte in contrast to the polished surfaces.  The lid is long an narrow, which makes it difficult to polished.  The piece has been traditionally fired and it is signed on the bottom.  The bowl is from 2008 and it was featured in the original “Born of Fire” exhibition at the Carnegie Museum in Pittsburgh.  The last photo is of the jar in the museum exhibit.  What a great provenance being his first piece exhibited in a museum!