Hopi Very Large Storage Jar [SOLD]

If it were my labor that had gone into making this extremely large Hopi Pueblo storage jar, I would have been devastated when I discovered it had exploded in the firing process.  From talking with a number of potters over the past decades, I have found that they do not stress out when this happens.  They have the attitude that it was not meant to be that the pot lived, and they accept that with understanding.  What a wonderful attitude by which to live and pursue one’s career.

Rachel Namingha Nampeyo was a granddaughter of Nampeyo and Lesso, a daughter of Annie and Willie Healing, and mother of Priscilla and Dextra.  She was an expert potter who worked into her early 80s.  She was exhibited in 1994 at the Smithsonian’s New York branch in an exhibit “Creation’s Journey: Masterworks of Native American Identity and Belief.”  She has been published in numerous books, shows, and articles.

Rachel was an exceptional potter so one must wonder why such a jar of hers would explode in firing.  It happens to all potters to some degree.  The larger the jar, the more likely damage will occur in firing.  It is very difficult for a jar to heat evenly when it is so large.  Uneven heating often causes cracks or other damage.  Explosions such as this jar experienced often happen because of air pockets in the clay that were not eliminated during construction. 

I purchased this jar because I was so impressed with its enormous size and also because it is an excellent example to illustrate to collectors how such damage occurs.  It has been stated that potters often lose about 25% of their pottery during the firing process.  I am impressed with the size and beauty of this jar and admire it as a testimony to a wonderful lady whose work I respect.

There is a side of the jar that is relatively free of damage and it could make a magnificent display high on a shelf with the good side visible.  This is an opportunity to have an impressive large jar with very little expense.

Condition: damaged during firing and repaired by the potter

Recommended Reading: Hopi-Tewa Pottery 500 Artist Biographies by Gregory Schaaf.  This book is currently not available from Adobe Gallery.

Provenance: from a gentleman dealer from Arizona