Hopi-Tewa Small Jar with Merchant Price Label Attached [SOLD]

This small Hopi polychrome jar is typical of the fine work of Nampeyo of Hano.  The design elements have been documented as those of Nampeyo.  The designs were so carefully painted that it is likely that this was an early 1900s jar by her.  One must remember that designs were painted with a pigment made from a mineral source and applied with a brush made from the leaf of a yucca plant.  To achieve such straight and curved lines as she did must have been difficult but she accomplished it with style.  It has a merchant’s price label attached to the underside with a price of $4.00, another indication of an early piece by her.

Nampeyo was handpicked by Hopi trader Thomas Keam to make pottery in the style of the prehistoric Sikyatki potters.  He chose her because she was, to him, the best potter at Hopi.  She never disappointed him by producing anything less than wonderful. She did not copy Sikyatki potter’s work but used it as inspiration for her own designs.

The firing on this jar produced a warm orange glow to the surface, the ultimate desire in Hopi-Tewa pottery.

Condition: very good condition with minor abrasion

Provenance:  this Hopi-Tewa Small Jar with Merchant Price Label Attached is from the collection of a private individual

Recommended Reading:  Canvas of Clay—Seven Centuries of Hopi Ceramic Art by Wade and Cooke

The image above shows Nampeyo of Hano on the right with her daughter Fannie on the left - ca. 1930, courtesy of Rick Dillingham Fourteen Families In Pueblo Pottery.