M.J. Navajo Sand Painting — Wedding Vase, Polychrome Olla & Coiled Basket View Watchlist >
- Winning Bid: $25.48
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Lot # E739
System ID # 28635371
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M.J. Navajo Sand Painting — Wedding Vase, Polychrome Olla & Coiled Basket
A three-panel sand painting composition rendering three distinct artifacts of Native American material culture: a black-on-black wedding vase in the San Ildefonso / Santa Clara Pueblo tradition, a polychrome olla with bird motif consistent with Acoma or Zuni pottery, and an overhead view of a coiled basket in the Hopi or Apache style. Each panel is executed in pigmented sand with careful attention to texture — the matte depth of the blackware, the chalky ground of the olla, the radiating coil structure of the basket. Signed "M.J." lower left on two of the three panels.
The presentation amplifies the work: triple-matted in peach, lavender, and slate, with cut-out stepped cloud and lightning motifs framing the composition. The distressed silver-washed wood frame is rustic by design and period-appropriate to the regional market. Affixed to the verso is the business card of The William Bonney Gallery of Mesilla, NM — Dan & Della McKinney, Dealers in Fine Art — placing the piece firmly within the Mesilla Valley gallery trade that supplied collectors throughout the borderland from the 1970s into the 1990s.
Provenance
- The William Bonney Gallery, Mesilla, NM (Dan & Della McKinney, Dealers in Fine Art) — gallery card affixed to verso
- Private collection, southern New Mexico
Collector's Note
The triptych format is unusual for the genre — most sand paintings of the period depict a single subject. Rendering three distinct artifact types in one composition, with attention to the structural particulars of each (the asymmetric spout of the wedding vase, the cross-and-step layout of the basket coil), reads as deliberate ethnographic illustration rather than decorative shorthand. The Mesilla gallery provenance adds regional weight: William Bonney Gallery was a recognized Mesilla Plaza dealer, and its imprimatur lends credibility to the acquisition history.
CONDITION
Very Good. No remarkable damage to the sand surfaces; pigments remain saturated and the granular texture is intact across all three panels. Frame is rustic by design — distressed wood finish is original to the piece, not damage. Presented without glass.
DIMENSIONS / SPECIFICATIONS
- Overall (framed): 22 3/4" H × 22 3/4" W × 1 3/4" D
- Visible Image (each panel): 5 1/4" × 5 1/4"
- Medium: Pigmented sand on board
- Signed: "M.J." lower left, two of three panels
- Presentation: Triple-matted, framed, no glazing
