Pictorial Sun Face Design Pottery Bowl from the Hopi Pueblo Mesas [SOLD]

Before 1900, bowls such as this Pictorial Sun Design Pottery Bowl from the Hopi Pueblo Mesas were routinely made for food.  It would not have been decorated on the interior, however.  After 1900, potters were encouraged by traders Thomas Keam and Lorenzo Hubbell to produce products for sale.  Pictorial designs were particularly desirable as tourists were likely to prefer those over geometric designs. 

This bowl features a large katsina face as the primary design.  There is a single framing line about an inch below the rim and a pair of orange elements outlined in brown and a pair of brown elements, also outlined in brown.  Paired feathers point to the four directions from the katsina face.  The rim is black and the exterior of the bowl is void of design.  There is no potter’s signature.

Condition: this Pictorial Sun Face Design Pottery Bowl from the Hopi Pueblo Mesas is in very good condition

Provenance: from the collection of a local Santa Fe family

Recommended Reading: Allen, Laura Graves. Contemporary Hopi Pottery, Museum of Northern Arizona, Flagstaff. 1984.

Relative Links: Thomas Keam, Lorenzo Hubbell, katsina, Southwest Indian Pottery, Hopi Pueblo, Contemporary Pottery