Blue Corn – 10″ Wide Polychrome Bowl with Avanyu and Polished Interior (1970s)

WOW!  This is an unusual large polychrome bowl by Blue Corn.  She is often best known for her polychrome pottery and her creative use of various clay slips on her pottery. She learned to make pottery from Maria Martinez at San Ildefonso.  This bowl is coil-built, stone-polished, and painted with various colors of clay slip.  The bowl has a classic shape with rounded sides.  It is fully polished tan and the exterior is painted with an avanyu.  What is so unusual is that the interior is fully polished red!  Why is this so unusual? Most potters don’t polish the interiors of their pieces as the additional wet clay can cause a piece to crack in polishing.  The result, however, is striking with the deep red against the tan polished exterior!  After the bowl was painted, it was traditionally fired.  The bowl is signed on the bottom, “Blue Corn, San Ildefonso.”  It is in excellent condition with no chips, cracks, restoration, or repair.