Hopi Old Polychrome Jar with Nampeyo-style Stippling [SOLD]

Hopi potters must be extremely pleased when their pottery is removed from the firing pile and to see that it is a beautiful blush orange.  It is that orange blush that provides a warm glow to Hopi pottery which, otherwise, would be rather unimpressive.  This jar has that warmth.

There is little doubt in my mind that this jar is by a member of the Nampeyo family and that member would be either Nampeyo of Hano or her oldest daughter Annie Healing.  The jar has the vessel shape of many Nampeyo jars, has the thinness of wall construction of only the finest potter, and has many design elements seen on Nampeyo-made vessels, including stippling.  The interior of the jar is stone polished and yellow in color.  If I only had the ability to perform a DNA analysis on the long black hair imbedded into the interior slip, I would know who the maker was.

The base of the jar is slightly rounded and fully stone-polished.  The rim is painted brown and rolls out slightly in a delicate curve.  There are five design sections, each separated by four vertical lines, and each containing a different design.  The design section is framed by upper and lower framing lines, the upper ones featuring ceremonial line breaks and the lower ones not having line breaks.  This is possibly a later jar, perhaps from the 1930s, and possibly made by Nampeyo and painted by Annie.  It is a beautiful well-constructed jar.

Condition: a very minor chip on the interior of the rim of insignificant size

Recommended Reading: Canvas of Clay: Seven Centuries of Hopi Ceramic Art by Wade and Cooke

Provenance:from a family in Colorado