Polychrome Hopi Cylinder Vase with Bird Designs [SOLD]

When the *Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway (reporting mark ATSF) came to the American Southwest in the late 19th Century, it brought change in many ways. It brought easy access to new materials. Factory made tin buckets made it no longer necessary for potters to spend days making vessels for utilitarian use. The train also brought a new brand of tourist. Travelers from the East came looking for an exciting, romantic vision of the West, one with expansive landscapes and exotic people. These tourists wanted souvenirs to remind them of their travels.

Enterprising traders and Native American artists saw the economic opportunity in targeting these new visitors to the Southwest. Soon vendors stood alongside the railroad selling pottery, weavings, baskets and jewelry to eager customers looking for souvenirs of their adventures. Artists began to alter traditional designs and shapes to fit the tastes of the tourist. Pottery pieces got smaller and new forms emerged. One popular shape, especially at Hopi, was the tall cylinder vase, inspired by the Arts and Crafts style.

The tall cylinder jar was a form that was already familiar to Pueblo potters. The Ancestral Pueblos living at Chaco Canyon had made them. A cache of intact jars was found there, and it was discovered these vessels had been used for drinking chocolate. Hopi potters took an ancient shape and transformed it to create the tall, memorable vases for the tourists.

This tall cylinder vase features beautiful Hopi bird designs. Two stylized birds painted in red and black are placed on either side. Two smaller Sikyatki birds rest upon the upper neck between the bigger birds. The graceful designs adhere to the tall elegant shape of the vase. On the bottom of the jar is written “Bought in 1910 in Holbrook.” One can just imagine a traveler purchasing this vase as a reminder of a trip to the romantic Southwest.

Condition: The Polychrome Hopi Cylinder Vase with Bird Designs is in very good condition. There are no chips or cracks. It has been well cared for.

Provenance: from a resident of Iowa, whose mother collected this and other pueblo pottery, who has inherited her mother’s estate and is not comfortable having breakable art around her operating ranch.

Recommended Reading: Canvas of Clay: Seven Centuries of Hopi Ceramic Art by Edwin L Wade and Allan Cooke.

*AT&SF: The Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway (reporting mark ATSF), often abbreviated as Santa Fe or AT&SF, was one of the larger railroads in the United States. Chartered in February 1859, the railroad reached the Kansas-Colorado border in 1873 and Pueblo, Colorado, in 1876. To create a demand for its services, the railroad set up real estate offices and sold farm land from the land grants that it was awarded by Congress. Despite the name, its main line never served Santa Fe, New Mexico, as the terrain was too difficult; the town ultimately was reached by a branch line from Lamy.