Daisy Ramirez: Seed Pot Mata Ortiz

This authentic Mata Ortiz seed pot sits low and round, the kind of form that looks simple until you see what is on it. Daisy Ramirez, a Mata Ortiz potter from Chihuahua, has covered the entire upper dome in a dense, continuous field of tiny geometric marks — triangles, spirals, zigzags, step frets — each one individually incised by hand through a red slip to reveal the cream clay beneath. No pattern repeats in quite the same way twice. Fine teal lines divide the surface into sections radiating from the small triangular opening at the top, the only interruption in an otherwise unbroken field of sgraffito detail. Held in the hand, as the fourth photo shows, the scale of the work against the size of the pot becomes clear. This is not a large canvas. Every mark on it was made with a sharp point, one at a time. The seed pot form itself carries deep roots in the Paquimé and Casas Grandes tradition that Mata Ortiz potters have revived and made their own since the 1970s Origin: Mata Ortiz Dimensions: 3"Tall 12.5"Circumference