While Nancy Youngblood is known for her swirl melon bowls and carved pottery, she started out her career making miniatures.  This miniature is from 1980 and it is one of her striking red pieces.  The jar is matte on the top and bottom bands.  In the center, it is very deeply carved with eight Kiva step designs.  The “kiva step” pattern always has three steps when used in pottery and signify the ladder coming out of the kivas. Each of the eight carved designs is polished tan, which is always difficult to achieve a high polish.  On this piece, the background are has been slipped with a red clay.  This creates as striking visual contrast with the tan and the buff matte areas.  It is exceptional how deeply Nancy was able to carve into her her pottery relative to the size of the piece!  This jar is in excellent condition and it is signed on the bottom, “Nancy Youngblood Cutler”.  It is in excellent condition with no chips, cracks, restoration or repair.