Hopi Pueblo Redware Flat-Shouldered Seed Jar by Annie Nampeyo [SOLD]

During the late nineteenth century, museums sent expeditions to the Southwest Indian Reservations to make massive collections of pottery and other household items from contemporary homes and archaeological excavations. The result was with mixed blessings. The potters realized that the museums preferred the prehistoric pottery to the contemporary ones, so it did not take them long to realize they could recreate the old styles.

Nampeyo was one of the best. There was no intent to deceive the buyers. The potters, including Nampeyo, were making what was in demand and were not concealing that they were new. Nampeyo placed her pottery on a rug out in front of her house and sold it to whoever came by. Her daughter, Annie, was very proficient at pottery making at that time and Nampeyo placed Annie's pottery with her own. Buyers assumed they were buying pottery by Nampeyo and many such pieces made by Annie were placed in museums as being made by Nampeyo.

Annie's work is mostly recognizable. She liked to paint black and black-and-white designs on red slip. Her designs were more simplified that those of her mom. Other styles of her work have been identified through comparison with those collected and identified in the Pepper collection at Tulane University, but her redware is more easily attributable.

From the relative small but informative Tulane University collection referenced above, some generalizations as to Healing's vessel shapes and design preferences can be drawn, and a close study of these confirms that this jar falls firmly within her style.

This magnificent small seed jar is in excellent condition with only the expected amount of scratches due a vessel of this age.