Hopi Polychrome Sikyatki-style Seed Jar [SOLD]

This seed jar is probably from the 1970s or earlier and is an excellent example of the fine work of Fannie Nampeyo.  It was beautifully formed, polished, and painted with precision.  The parallel black migration lines are of even consistency and remarkably straight and parallel.  The orange paint was applied in an even consistency of darkness.  A beautiful blush was achieved during firing.  The low and wide vessel form is particularly striking.

Fannie Nampeyo was the youngest daughter of Nampeyo of Hano and, as a result, is the daughter most remembered by collectors from the 20th century.  Her older sister Annie had passed away in 1968 and her other sister Nellie in 1978.  Fannie lived until 1987.   She was still an active potter in the mid-80s and was very welcoming to visitors to her home, therefore many collectors knew her personally.  I visited her frequently during that decade and am glad to have known her.  She was the first one to demonstrate putting petroleum jelly on her fired pottery and then polishing it with old nylon hose.  That is the reason that the paint on her pottery does not smear or rub off easily.

Collectors never tire of Hopi pottery with the migration pattern as it is a design that fills the area of the vessel completely and has a dynamic flow of a wave in the ocean.  One can feel the motion as if the breakers were crashing against the beach.  One must have a vivid imagination to feel this as there is no ocean near the Hopi Reservation.

Condition: original condition

Provenance: from the collection of a family from Albuquerque

Recommended Reading:  Hopi-Tewa Pottery: 500 Artist Biographies [1st ED/1st Printing] by Gregory and Angie Schaaf (one copy available)