Very Large Hopi-Tewa Pottery Seed Jar with Corn Relief Design by Iris Youvella Nampeyo [SOLD]

Hopi Pueblo artist Iris Youvella Nampeyo has mostly stayed with designing simple corn stalks or ears of corn on otherwise undecorated pottery.  There is no pigment or paint on her works. It is the simplicity of her work that makes it so elegant. She does not apply a slip to the surface but simply polishes the natural clay from which the jar was made.  The corn plant is generally left in a matte state as in this seed jar. The jar is signed Iris Y. Nampeyo and was made in 1990.

Iris Youvella Nampeyo (1944 –) is known for her sculptural design pottery that she has mastered to the finest detail.  This style of sculpture was first made by Elizabeth White (Polingaysi) and further refined by her nephew Al Colton (Qöyawayma).  Colton has evolved from the simple corn design to carving cliff dwellings on his pottery.  Iris has chosen to stay with applying a corn design in bas-relief (see close-up image below). She is, of course, Corn Clan.

Condition: this Very Large Hopi-Tewa Pottery Seed Jar with Corn Relief Design by Iris Youvella Nampeyo is in original condition

Provenance: from a collection of contemporary pottery of a family from New Jersey

Recommended Reading: Fourteen Families in Pueblo Pottery by Rick Dillingham

Reference: Hopi-Tewa Pottery: 500 Artist Biographies, by Gregory Schaaf. 

Relative Links: Hopi Pueblo, Fannie Nampeyo, Nampeyo of Hano, Elizabeth White (Polingaysi), Al Colton (Qöyawayma), Iris Youvella Nampeyo