Featured NWC pottery

This is a continuation of a piece I posted yesterday on the 'Finds' thread, and that @komokwa and @all_fakes commented on.

This pot is approx 4" tall and 5" wide. The black paint is thick and smooth. The pot seems to be made by an experienced and skilled potter. The design is precisely incised into the paint and, slightly, the underlying clay.

The estate sale where I found it had many pieces of signed pottery from Northwest artists and locations. I was shocked to find it still there on the last day of the sale. This one unfortunately has no signature.

Thanks for any (more) comments!

 

I see many Navajo etched pots on the internet. The pot has a Navajo look, with NW Coast imagery.

If the "eye" (?) graphic was not there, I thought the other images nordic. Then I found these boats ...

 

it looks almost sandblasted to me..

 

that rough area in the salmon trouts head is not present anywhere else on the pot..

 

So it's not Inuit souvenir piece?

 

Inuit...



Northwest coast.....


no, not an Inuit item..

 

No, not Inuit, but absolutely Northwest Coast Native form-line style. As mentioned in the other thread, it bears several similarities to the work of Canadian First Nations artist Judy Cranmer, Cree/Kwakwaka'wakw; but also some differences compared to her usual style.
I also noted the sand-blasted appearance, though one might have to mask off the entire rest of the piece. But certainly possible, and maybe the most likely explanation for that appearance.
Similarities to her work: the use of a dark brown glaze on part of the pot; good NW Coast Native form-line design on a wheel-thrown pot.
Dissimilarities: the design being done in reverse, that is, inscribed or sandblasted onto the dark wash rather than a dark wash applied to otherwise unpainted areas. Usually Cranmer's wash in design areas is very light, lighter than the dark glossy wash that might be applied to some larger areas of her pots, and lighter than that seen in OP's pot. Judy Cranmer's work is almost always signed.

My feeling is that it is not impossible that this is an anomalous work of Cranmer's, but also very possible that it is the work of another artist influenced by her.
compare this one of Judy Cranmer's:

 

Handsome pot! Most people are comp shoppers I’ve found. If they can’t look it up, they leave it. A few people love the stuff and buy what they love or appreciate. Most people just look up every single thing and move on if they can’t find a comp on something. Lots of good stuff slips through the cracks that way! Of course it makes our jobs harder in the research department but it’s where good value can be found.

 

Yes, I may have to just leave it at that...

Thank you again for the comments.

Yes! The people at the estate sale, google-lens-ing every item and then putting them back if they can't find anything.... so annoying! Have the courage of your convictions, why dontcha!

 

I've yet to see one of Judy's vessels....that was not painted....

this one is not painted... & not hers......... imo

 

Good point Komo; and I don't recall any of hers that were sandblasted either.

 

years ago they took to sandblasting glass..... I got used to it , where the designs were expertly done.
now....they sandblast wood panels .....which hurt my eyes ......
Maybe this pottery is something new????



oh, they're pretty. but no hand carving here at all,
and with one template you can produce multiple designs that all start to look the same..

 

Yes....I can hardly complain about Preston Singletary's use of sandblasting, for example, because the items are exquisite.....and I believe he's only making one of each, generally. But the potential for unlimited versions could be a concern. I don't suppose the one in your last post has an edition number, like "20 of 150." It is a nicely done design though, IMHO.
(the pics in post #12 didn't work for me).

 

no edition.....

sorry bout the pics...spirits of the west coast gallery....I grabbed fast , they don't show,,

they are selling ones that all look the same..

 

An idea: if the bare clay side(s) of the pot was sandblasted first, then taped with the design, then painted black all the way around, and then the tape (and therefore paint) was removed, the 'negative' design would emerge.

Admittedly, it'd have to be a very specific kind of paint to 'tear' so very cleanly....

Far-fetched?

 

u sure that's paint.....
to me it looks like an exact knife cut out the design...
the edges of the eye cut out look distressed....blunted.....and not close to what I'd expect from paint....or a laid down template....

I can't say for sure 'what's 'going on there ??????

 

It looks like paint.... but is thick, dense and smooth. It's hard to imagine it being anything else....


Thanks for strategizin'...

 

good shot on the 1st close up.....

the edges are either very sharp or blobby.....making it look like a template was pulled off the vase after painting.....

but leaving no residue behind on a rough surface...........???

again...I do not recognize how this was made..

 

Yep... me neither.

Thanks for the comments.