Small Polychrome Hopi Jar by Nampeyo [SOLD]

It was around 1880 when the transcontinental train passed through the Southwest.  The Atchison Topeka and Santa Fe Railway teamed up with The Fred Harvey Company to enthusiastically promote the native cultures and the artists of Taos and Santa Fe. They also heavily promoted the Hopi, primarily because of the semi-annual Snake Dance ceremony.   They must be given credit for changing America’s attitude toward its native cultures, particularly in the Southwest.

Nampeyo of Hano was in the right location at the right time.  Excavations at the prehistoric Sikyatki ruins, the publicity of the Hopi Snake Dance by the Fred Harvey Company, the enthusiasm of local trader Thomas Keam, and the inherent artistic talent of Nampeyo combined to make her the preeminent potter at Hopi.  This was not easy on her traditional Hopi life, as it was not the custom for someone to stand out as better than others.  Nampeyo was chided by her neighbors for doing so.

Nampeyo was considered by Thomas Keam to be the best potter at Hopi and he selected her to make pottery in the style of the Sikyatki prehistoric residents as he had requests from museums and collectors for Sikyatki pottery and there were not sufficient prehistoric wares to fill the demand.  Nampeyo's reincarnation of the style and designs of the Sikyatki would fill this need.

Nampeyo made many very large jars and bowls for Keam to sell to museums but she also made smaller ones for collectors and travelers to the mesas.  This small jar is typical of the style made for local sale on the reservation and for sale at the Hopi House at the Grand Canyon.  It has all the style of Nampeyo’s larger pottery jars but in a more compressed size.

The large orange element could easily be a representation of a bird.  The area to the right of the bird shows four black clouds with falling rain.  The stippling could represent wind whirling around behind the clouds.  All of this is speculation, of course.  No one knows the true intent of the prehistoric potters who created such design forms.  The meaning of the designs is unimportant.  It is the effect such elements have when combined into a coherent shape and Nampeyo possessed the artistic talent to best do so.

The little up-turned rim is a Nampeyo feature seen frequently.  The wide brown framing line is traditional as well.  Sometimes Nampeyo put in a ceremonial line break and at other times she did not so she must have thought of it as a design style, not a ceremonial feature. 

Condition: the jar is in very good condition with some abrasion to the painted designs

Provenance:  from the extensive Nampeyo collection of a gentleman from Texas

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