San Jose Pottery (directed by Ethel Wilson Harris, San Antonio, Texas), table top panel of 6 hand-painted and fired ceramic tiles depicting a harvest scene with man with pigskin vessel on his back and acocote (siphon for aguamiel), with curved-edge white tile frame, set into scrolled wrought iron base attributed to Voss Metalworks (San Antonio, Texas)

tile scene: 15.5 x 21.75 in.

table size overall: height 20 in. x width 24.5 in. x depth 18 in.

Provenance: Property from a home in San Antonio, Texas

Note: Pulque is a traditional beverage made from fermenting aguamiel, the sweet agave sap from a mature maguey plant, and must be harvested by hand

The San Jose Pottery workshop, comprised of a team of craftsmen and artists, operated downtown on the banks of the San Antonio River from 1931-1941. Its founder, Ethel Wilson Harris, copyrighted a book of designs in 1937 and registered her characteristic logo -- a maguey cactus in full bloom. In 1941 the workshop changed its name to Mission Crafts when it moved to within the walls of Mission San Jose, where gifted artisans created tiles and pottery until 1977.