Art Analysis: The Thousand Flowers Vase By Maria Martinez

Critical Thinking Activity #3
One hand, the Thousand Flowers vase is masterpiece from the Chinese Qianlong period of the Qing Dynasty (Cunningham and Reich, p. 586) is a vase from the fencai or runcai genre (famille rose enamel ware). The artist genuinely utilized vivid, but soft colors as this style requires. On the other hand, the vase in the picture by Maria Martinez is a spectacular sample of her mate glossy black ware. She is from Tewa’s heritage and a Native-American from San Ildefonso’s, New Mexico area and well-known for making the thinnest vases in the shortest time.
Both of these vases show mastery of skills from part of the artists. These vases are flawless and required hours of planning and are detailed-oriented work.

In both cases, Cunningham, indicates that the mastery of their firing techniques was essential to achieve the final product. According to Cunningham, this vase is more colorful and intricate than the vases from the Ming Dynasty, which clearly indicates a better technique. They are from different centuries and are the culmination of trial and error from their creators. Both require hours of learning motif, technique and form.
Each vase is important for each culture, because they represent the art of an era.

Also considering their work excelled among other potter artists. In the Thousand Flowers vase case, this piece is adorned with peonies, chrysanthemums, magnolias, lilies, lotuses, roses, and morning glories, which are the Chinese people favorites flowers, as I was able to observe in my visit the botanical gardens of . The artists drew them in a ways that they intermingled beautifully and resemble colorful and elegant brocade. A vase like this, it is not only elegant, but it will add a touch of happiness to any place, no matter the season, the country, or a particular place in a house. The mastery of the colors utilized to decorate the piece is a gift for sore eyes. Moreover, this vessel is unique, because it shows many hours of observation, sketching, and spiritual communication with each kind of flower. One can clearly, observe that this artist was masterfully able to mixed lead-silica enamels in different colors such as green, yellow, red, gold, and other rose palette colors. By observing this vase, one have to conclude that the artist has a good sense of volume and the final product shows impressionistic features, which I personally love. According to Cunningham’s, the application of color require two firings, which implies that any small; mistake will destroy the whole product. Fortunately, this artist was savvy enough to achieve the planned

art.
In Maria’s case this vase represents her tribe and culture, due to the fact that she utilized the techniques that she learned from other San Ildefonso potters from nearby Native American artists, who live around her town; including her aunt Nicolasa. In this case it is important and necessary to grab the proper materials and mixed them carefully or the vases do not fire properly. Her work is also relevant to her culture, due to the fact that she is selfless and dedicates part of her life to teach others her art. The color of the material is natural and can only be found in the Pueblo’s tribe area and a place called San Bartolo, Coyotepec, in Oaxaca, Mexico; fact that I know because I was born in this state. Fortunately, I was able to observe the difficulty to achieve the black on black pottery technique, during my eighteen years of teaching in my hometown. Therefore, black pottery in always one of my favorites.

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