Hopi-Tewa Black on Red Seed Jar [SOLD]

Early twentieth century pottery by Nampeyo of Hano and her daughter Annie Healing Nampeyo were rarely signed with the name of the potter.  Nampeyo and Annie would spread a blanket out on the ground in front of their house and display their pottery together. Visitors who stopped by and made purchases most likely assumed their purchase had been made by Nampeyo but that is not necessarily accurate.  Their purchase could have been made by Nampeyo, made by Nampeyo and painted by Annie, or made and painted by Annie.

This poses a dilemma when one is trying to make an attribution on a jar of that period.  We know that Nampeyo made black-on-red, as did Annie. In the early twentieth century, Nampeyo was at the height of her career.  She was an excellent potter, both in forming the vessel and painting it, but was beginning to have sight problems. Annie was just past being a teenager at that time and, while already a good potter, was not yet as accomplished as her mom.

Annie married Willie Healing around 1898 and the couple lived with Nampeyo and Lesou and accompanied them when they demonstrated their craft at the Grand Canyon in Arizona.  By 1900, Annie was working with her mom on pottery. Her help was needed by Nampeyo because she was deluged with requests for her work and was under pressure to increase her output.

Any attribution, therefore, to Nampeyo or Annie is a judgement call.  When looking at the rim area of this jar, it is not perfectly level. The painted design, although quite well done, is not as precise as work by Nampeyo.  The design, however, shares elements that are comparable to those painted by Nampeyo, so it is easy to say that the jar is by one of the two potters, and we have chosen to select Annie Healing as both the potter and painter.  We realize that others may have a different opinion and we welcome hearing from you with your thoughts.

The tilt to the rim is minor and not considered a defect.  The matte black painted design on the polished red slip was very well located throughout the upper half of the vessel. A wide red framing line at the midsection set the limits to the design placement.  The hemisphere element with four wide parallel bars is integral to all the other designs by a line that touches and connects them. Those four wide black lines are seen in other vessels by Nampeyo as tail feathers of a bird.  The rectangular box that is outlined in a series of black lines is similar in two instances and differs in the third one.

Overall, the jar is a striking example of the work of Annie Healing, perhaps with the help of her mom, or perhaps executed alone.  Even as a teenager, Annie was probably an accomplished potter. She would have played with clay and began learning the techniques of pottery making when only a toddler. There were no distractions for young girls at Hopi at the time and most certainly apprenticed with their mothers very early in life.  As a young married woman, she was expected to perform functions allocated to Hopi-Tewa women. As a daughter of Nampeyo, she certainly was destined to make pottery.

Condition: Hopi-Tewa Black on Red Seed Jar very good condition

Provenance: from the collection of a resident of Fort Collins, Colorado

Recommended Reading: The Legacy of a Master Potter—Nampeyo and Her Descendants by Mary Ellen and Laurene Blair