The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of December 18, 2025

Bowl

before 1980

Maria Martinez

(San Ildefonso Pueblo, about 1887–1980)
Native North America, Southwest, New Mexico
ceramic, slip
Overall: 7.1 x 9.6 cm (2 13/16 x 3 3/4 in.)
Gift of Frances and David Dickenson in memory of Sarah Dickenson and Jeffrey Cudlip 2003.350
Location: 231 Native North American

Description

Maria Martinez, the most well-known Pueblo potter, was crucial to transforming modern Native American ceramics from utilitarian wares into fine decorative arts. She developed her mastery while young, learning traditional techniques from other Pueblo women. The style for which she is known—lustrous black wares venerated within and outside of Indigenous communities—grew in part from her study of ceramic fragments at ancient, ancestral Pueblo sites.
  • {{cite web|title=Bowl|url=false|author=Maria Martinez|year=before 1980|access-date=18 December 2025|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/2003.350