Hopi Sikyatki Migration Pattern Jar [SOLD]

The migration pattern has been interpreted as representing the migration of the Hopi people through four worlds.  The black parallel lines would be the lines of people migrating.  The origin of this legend is not known.

The migration pattern is one of the most difficult for a potter to master.  Painting the thin parallel lines in a consistent manner, using a yucca paint brush on a curved surface, presents difficulties.  Only the best potters can achieve such a feat with positive results.  Obviously, Rachel Namingha Nampeyo was such an accomplished potter as demonstrated by this jar.  It is one of the best of her works I have seen.  I would hazard a guess that this was made when Rachel was a younger potter because the painting was executed in an exceptional manner.

Rachel was a granddaughter of Nampeyo and Lesso, a daughter of Annie and Willie Healing, and mother of Priscilla and Dextra.  She was an expert potter who worked into her early 80s.  Her work was exhibited in 1994 at the Smithsonian’s New York branch in an exhibit “Creation’s Journey: Masterworks of Native American Identity and Belief.”  She has been published in numerous books, exhibits, and articles.

Condition: very good condition

Provenance: from a gentleman in Colorado

Recommended Reading:  Fourteen Families in Pueblo Pottery by Rick Dillingham.

Photo of Rachel Namingha Nampeyo of Hopi Pueblo, courtesy of Rick Dillingham, Fourteen Families In Pueblo Pottery.