Hopi Monochromatic Painted small Jar [SOLD]

Dr. Joshua Miller moved to Arizona in 1883 and subsequently became an avid collector of native arts and crafts objects.  He met Nampeyo and her family and sometime in the late 1890s treated her for the early stages of trachoma, an eye disease that eventually renders the person blind.  Nampeyo did succumb to blindness in the early 1920s.

Because she was such an outstanding potter, Nampeyo was able to continue making pottery just from feel.  She knew the feel of the clay and her hands were so experienced with molding and forming vessels, she could do so without clear vision.  What she could not do, however, was paint designs on the finished pottery.  Her oldest daughter Annie Healing took to painting her mom's pots during this period and she and her sister Fannie Polacca continued doing this until Nampeyo passed away in 1942.

At least some of the pottery that Annie painted bears the name NAMPEYO on the underside.  Nampeyo, herself, never signed her wares but Annie and Fannie, at least some of the time, put their mom's name on the pots for her. 

This small bowl made by Nampeyo was painted by Annie and is signed with the name NAMPEYO.  It is believed that those which contain only the name NAMPEYO were painted by Annie and those with the names NAMPEYO FANNIE were painted by Fannie.

Condition:  This tea cup size bowl is in excellent condition with some evidence of wear to the brown painted design. 

Provenance: ex. coll. Phoenix, AZ collector of Hopi pottery

Referenced Material: Nampeyo and Her Pottery by Barbara Kramer