Sam Ginocchio New Mexico Studio Pottery Casserole & Platter, Tenmoku Glaze

Hand-thrown stoneware pair by Sam Ginocchio, a Las Cruces–based studio potter active in southern New Mexico's craft-pottery community since the 1970s. Ginocchio works in a functional reduction-fired idiom rooted in the Anglo-Oriental tradition of Bernard Leach and Shoji Hamada, favoring iron-saturated tenmoku and oxblood glaze pairings on robust utilitarian forms. Both pieces here display his signature layered glaze treatment: a deep oxblood ground breaking into iron-black pooling with olive-green crystalline drips at the transition band.

The lidded casserole features pulled side handles and an arched strap handle on the domed lid, while the broad rimmed platter carries the same drip-banded glaze sweeping across its interior face. The covered casserole is incised "Ginocchio" in script to the unglazed stoneware base; the platter is unsigned but matches in clay body, throwing rings, and glaze chemistry, attributed to the same hand. Wheel-thrown rings remain visible across both forms.

CONDITION

Excellent overall with no chips, cracks, or repairs noted. Glaze surfaces are bright with expected minor kiln specks consistent with reduction firing.

DIMENSIONS / SPECIFICATIONS

• Platter: 1.75" H × 13.25" Diameter
• Lidded Casserole (with handles): 5.75" H × 9.5" W × 8.5" Diameter
• Stoneware with oxblood and tenmoku reduction glaze
• Casserole incised "Ginocchio" in script to underside
• Platter unsigned; attributed to Ginocchio by clay body, form, and glaze
• Sam Ginocchio, Las Cruces, New Mexico studio potter
• Anglo-Oriental functional tradition, late 20th c.
• 2-Piece Lot