Hopi Tall Polychrome Wedding Vase [R]

Helen Naha (Feather Woman) and Joy Navasie (Frog Woman) were sisters-in-law. Helen Naha married Joy Navasie's brother, Archie Naha. The two families lived on a large ranch just east of Keam's Canyon on the Hopi Reservation.  Helen was known for her stark black-on-white Hopi pottery early in her career and for exquisite polychrome pots in later times. Her hallmark is a feather.

This wedding vase is unusually tall and was slipped in white clay from top to bottom over which the artist applied the design in black, orange, and deep red.  The design is a stylized version of a parrot, repeated on front and back of the vessel.

Condition: structurally in original condition with some minor scratches

Provenance: from a gentleman in Albuquerque

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