HUMBERTO PINA Polychrome Pottery Turtle Jar Mata Ortiz Mexico

Humberto Eleuterio Piña Quintana is an outstanding artisan from the northern Mexico village of Mata Ortiz. He is well-known for his masterful hand-coiled, etched and painted pottery. His depictions of wildlife are beautiful, as you can see on his jar with its four panels etched with turtles. 

Humberto is the son of master Mata Ortiz potters Eleuterio Piña and Ramona Quintana. He continues to make his pottery as his parents and other authentic Mata Ortiz potters have done, hand-coiling clay into jars and vases that are perfectly symmetrical. After painting his pieces, he uses the sgraffito technique, scratching through layers to create the carved designs that he augments with painted elements like geometric designs. On this jar, Humberto Piña also created wonderful tactile surfaces surrounding the turtles by piercing the clay with hundreds of tiny concentric dots, a technique called perforation. 

This jar stands 6.75 inches tall, 6.75 inches across the widest point and weighs 1 pound, 6 ounces. It's in excellent 
condition, with no damage, clean with fresh colors. Like all authentic Humberto Piña pottery, it is signed on the bottom, etched into the clay by hand. Made by an award-winning Mata Ortiz potter, this is a highly desirable pieced of Mexican pottery.

© PrimpingYourHome.com

PYH 5860