San Juan Pueblo Pottery Collection (original) (raw)

San Juan Pueblo is located in north-central New Mexico. Traditionally the pottery of San Juan has been plain polished red or polished black. Also traditional is the style of applying the polished slip, in either case to only the upper two-thirds of jars, and to only a band just below the rim on the exteriors of bowls. In both cases a line of demarcation between slip and paste can be clearly seen, with a resulting pattern of color that is pleasing. The rest of the surface is well-polished bare paste: a shade of orange-tan when the slip is red, and gray when the slip has been smudged black.