Hopi-Tewa Large Polychrome Cylindrical Pottery Vase [SOLD]

The Hopi Pueblo potter of this beautifully shaped historic cylindrical jar chose to place a large stylized bird and an accompanying geometric bird in side-by-side positioning.  This pair of designs was repeated on the opposite side.  The larger of the two designs is clearly a bird, as defined by the long curving beak.  Feathers hang from the bird’s head, body, and tail.  This larger design was executed in brown pigment with only some outlining in red.  

Most often, this bird design on Hopi-Tewa pottery has been stated to be an eagle, however, Blair and Blair (see reference) state “The eagle design is actually a macaw and can be traced unbroken back to the prehistoric times of the Basketmaker III culture.”

The accompanying geometric bird is very angular in shape, with sharp lines changing direction abruptly.  It was executed in red and outlined in brown pigment.  This bird, although more modern in shape, is actually an expansion of an earlier Sikyatki simple angular depiction of a bird.  A wide brown band around the rim and brown around the bottom frame the designs.  

Seeing the contrast between the more familiar Sikyatki-style bird and the less familiar Sikyatki-style more geometric bird recalls a statement by Blair and Blair in their book on Nampeyo.  It deserves to be repeated here. 

“Unlike the works of most prehistoric potters, Nampeyo’s designs were often bold, and at times there was a suitable avoidance of symmetry. . . . Often small, almost unobservable and apparently meaningless design elements appear to have been added as an afterthought or changed with the apparent purpose of altering balance.” [Blair and Blair 1989:92]  

Perhaps this is an explanation for the differences in the two design elements on this cylinder, both of which have roots from the Sikyatki culture.  Did Nampeyo make this cylinder?  We are not making that attribution but there is a similarity in the vessel shape and a similarity in the design concept, but we could find no similar published example, so we have no reference from which to make an attribution.

Larger than usual, this magnificent Hopi-Tewa pottery cylindrical jar is unequal in the beauty of the vessel shape.  From a 3-¼” diameter base, the wall rises up gracefully to a width of 10-½” at the shoulder, then curves slightly and rises to a 4-½” opening.

Condition: this Hopi-Tewa Large Polychrome Cylindrical Pottery Vase is in very good condition with minor paint abrasion

Provenance: originally purchased from a resident of Santa Fe by Adobe Gallery in 2004 and sold to a client from whom we now have it back.

Reference: Blair, Mary Ellen and Laurence Blair. The Legacy of a Master Potter Nampeyo and Her Descendants, 1989.