Maria Martinez is inarguably the best-known Pueblo potter. She had an exceptionally long career: As a young girl she worked with her aunt and other female relatives, then with her husband Julian for forty years. Following his death, she first worked with her daughter-in-law and finally with her son, Popovi Da. From the mid-1950s until Popovi Da's untimely death, the mother and son collaborations represent some of the most original and stunning work of Martinez's long career. Among many outstanding creative talents, Popovi Da possessed superior technical skills as demonstrated in the gun metal color finish on this bowl achieved through a small but delicate tweak to the firing temperature. This was bit of technical bravura, terribly difficult to carry off in an open outdoor firing.