Hopi Pueblo Frog Woman Polychrome Pottery Jar [SOLD]

This excellent polychrome jar was created by Hopi Pueblo potter Joy Navasie, the second Frog Woman.  It is an excellent example of Navasie’s work.  Its primary design element is a wide band featuring intricate Hopi Pueblo, Hopituh Shi-nu-mu patterns.  As per the artist’s usual, these designs are complex and elegant, with a variety of forms and patterns winding into and around one another.  This band is divided into two halves vertically, using two groups of five lines.  It is framed at its top and bottom by thick horizontal lines.

While the design band is beautiful, the jar’s basic elements deserve praise, too.  Its white slip is impeccable, with a smooth polished finished that is softly reflective under bright light.  Navasie’s decision to leave bands of unpainted white slip at the top and bottom of the jar was a wise one, as they balance out the intricate designs quite nicely.  The jar’s shape is appealing as well—its wide shoulder gives way to a sharp curve inward, eventually reaching a base that measures less than three inches in diameter.  Like the painted design work, the jar’s form is both strong and graceful.

The bottom of the jar is signed with Navasie’s frog hallmark symbol. Note that her mother, Paqua Naha, used short straight toes on her frog hallmark and Joy Navasie used webbed toes.

Joy Navasie (1919 - 2012) second Frog Woman - Yellow Flower was born in 1919 on Hopi Pueblo's First Mesa. Navasie recalls that she began making pottery at the age of 17. She learned to make pottery from her mother, Paqua Naha—the first Frog Woman. Her distinctive decorative style is instantly recognizable, as she used a white slip, over which she painted dark brown and rust color designs. Her skillful application of bird, water and sky elements around perfectly formed pots was and still is unique.  She was a master at the craft.

Condition: excellent condition with no notable abrasions or issues

Provenance: this Hopi Pueblo Frog Woman Polychrome Pottery Jar is from the collection of a Georgia resident, purchased from Kiva Gallery in Santa Fe in 1989

Recommended Reading: Fourteen Families in Pueblo Pottery by Rick Dillingham

Relative Links: Hopi-Tewa, Paqua Naha, Pueblo Pottery, Loretta Navasie Koshiway, Joy Navasie, Frog Woman, Hopi Pueblo Potter