Sikyatki-revival Hopi Seed Jar by Nampeyo [SOLD]

This visually wonderful turn-of-the-century Hopi-Tewa jar demonstrates in style and technique all the hallmarks of Nampeyo’s genius. The shape is derived from the bulbous shouldered jars common to the prehistoric Sikyatki pottery tradition of the 15th and 16th centuries. Nampeyo favored, as illustrated in this vessel, a conical up-thrusting neck gracefully projecting from the jar’s body without seam or flexure.

The design composition is perfectly complementary to the sculptural form of the vessel. The heavy unbroken black encircling upper body band separates the neck of the jar from its body. A pair of framing lines just below the widest diameter of the jar completes defining the area of design. The design is a combination of a variety of avian and geometric elements.  The main design element is that of a stylized bird with the curved beak of an eagle, body with feathers and stippling, and a V-shaped tail feather section.  This design is repeated twice on opposing sides of the vessel.  Stippling, applied using the ends of the brush, was a favorite technique of Nampeyo.

Indian trader Thomas Keam wrote of Nampeyo in his journals, and acknowledged as early as the 1880s, that she was the finest potter at Hopi, even though she was Tewa and not Hopi.  He acknowledged also that she was experimenting with the old pottery designs and creating beautiful pottery.  Keam encouraged her because he was in need of fine pottery to create collections for museums and individuals.  Nampeyo obliged him, not necessarily for the money, but because she was entranced with the shards being excavated at ancestral villages around the Hopi mesas and was eager to use them to create designs of her own.  They served as her influence and not something to be meticulously copied. 

The design of this jar is beautifully complemented by the porcelain-like petal white of the kaolin-slipped clay body. Both clay body and slipping are absolutely flawless. The jar was fired in a coal-burning atmosphere, contributing the ivory toned color to the jar’s surface and the polished inner lip of the rim.  The mineral source for the brown paint has always, even today, been subject to rubbing off from consistent handling and this is the case with this jar.  It is not unusual for this to happen and is not detrimental to the beauty of pottery.  It is just what happens to Hopi pottery.

Condition: structurally in original condition, with some loss of intensity of brown paint and a small divit on the neck of the jar where an air bubble probably burst during firing.

Provenance: sold by Adobe Gallery to a client in 2002 and now available from that client for resale.

Recommended Reading:

Nampeyo and Her Pottery by Barbara Kramer

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