Hopi-Tewa Jar by Rachel Namingha Nampeyo

Award winning Hopi Pueblo artist Rachel Namingha Nampeyo used designs on her pottery associated with those used by Nampeyo of Hano. The entire Nampeyo family is associated with the revived Sikyatki pottery designs recreated by the famous matriarch Nampeyo of Hano.

This jar is typical of her work from the mid-twentieth century, probably made between 1950 to 1960.  It is a vessel shape which she seemed to particularly like—short and squat with mid-body bulge and a straight and long neck.  Her designs generally were restricted to the area of the body, with the neck left without design. The design on this vessel features a simplified and stylized bird from Sikyatki inspiration.  Between the two birds is a stylized eagle tail executed in monochromatic pigment.

Rachel Namingha Nampeyo (1903-1985) was a granddaughter of Nampeyo of Hano, daughter of Annie Healing and mother of Priscilla and Dextra. She was an accomplished potter recognized with an exhibition of her work in 1994 at the National Museum of the American Indian, Heye Center, New York, in Creation’s Journey: Masterworks of Native American Identity and Belief.

A large selection of her pottery is in the collection of the Museum of Northern Arizona, some from as early as 1940 and as late as 1980.  She has been included in numerous publications for her contribution to Hopi-Tewa pottery.

This Jar by Rachel Namingha Nampeyo is signed on the underside Rachel.N Nampeyo. 

Condition: this Hopi-Tewa Jar by Rachel Namingha Nampeyo is in excellent condition.

Provenance: previously in the collection of a Santa Fe family from whom we acquired it in 2008, and which we sold to a client from whom we now have it to sell again.

Recommended Reading: Hopi-Tewa Pottery: 500 Artist Biographies by Gregory Schaaf

TAGS: Southwest Indian Pottery, Contemporary Pottery, Rachel Namingha Nampeyo, Hopi Pueblo, Nampeyo of Hano, Annie Healing, Priscilla Nampeyo, Dextra Nampeyo