Maude Welch, North Carolina Cherokee Indian pottery jar. Short rolled neck with figural handles depicting braves with long braids that extend down the side of the pot. Signed in script on the base "Made by Maude Welch, Cherokee, NC", also marked in pencil "3.00" indicating the original sales price. 5 3/4" H. Circa 1937. Biography (courtesy Western Carolina University): Maude French Welch (1894“1953) was was born near Cooper's Creek in the Birdtown section of the Qualla Boundary. In the 1920s she lived in South Carolina, where she met some of the most accomplished of Catawba potters. Returning to the Qualla Boundary, Welch began producing pottery in earnest and was quickly rewarded.While largely self-taught, Welch continued to add to her repertoire of traditional pottery forms and sometimes added hand-shaped embellishments. Welch used a variety of tools to shape her pottery and used the same polishing stone for more than twenty-five years. She briefly experimented with pottery kilns, but abandoned the practice because customers preferred her signature mottled tan and smoky-black pottery, achieved by more traditional methods. A 1935 report on pottery called her œthe most talented potter on the Reservation,” and some contend that Welch led the revival of pottersà art among the Cherokee. Condition: Minor chip to rim with approx. 1/8" radiating line. Body with scattered scratching. Wear to base.