Polychrome Large Seed Jar [SOLD]

During the early 1930s, Nampeyo was living alone, still able to see but with restricted vision. Her husband, Lesso, had died in 1930. She was frail and her hands were gnarled as was typical of potters who had spent their lives with their hands in cold water and working cold clay. She was, however, able to form pottery vessels as well as when she was younger and when she had good vision. She could not see well enough, however, to paint the designs.

Sometimes her eldest daughter Annie would paint designs for her mother. At other times, Nampeyo would have her youngest daughter Fannie do it for her. It was not important to Nampeyo or to the dealers who were purchasing her pots if someone else painted the designs as Nampeyo was just a potter and the end result was what was important. She was not famous at that time.

By the mid-1930s, Nampeyo was potting with renewed energy. She was entering small pots in the Museum of Northern Arizona Hopi Craftsman exhibits. She was also making larger vessels, such as this one. This is the size and shape that Nampeyo was making in the mid-1930s. This jar is signed Nampeyo Fannie, a signature used by Fannie when she decorated her mother’s pottery. She placed Nampeyo’s name first out of respect, then added her name to show she had painted the vessel.

During the last years of her life, Nampeyo again made the large-diameter Sikyatki-shaped jars that earned her reputation at the turn of the century. This jar is typical of those made late in her life. Its widest diameter is at the mid section, with equal area above and below the widest point. The design is the favored one by most collectors—the migration pattern. The design is enclosed by two wide framing lines, one at the upper end and one at the bottom end.

Condition: The jar had a hairline crack running vertically from the rim and it has been professionally stabilized so that the jar is in solid condition. There is some minor abrasion of the slip here and there but nothing that detracts from the beauty and significance of the vessel.

Provenance: ex. coll. Arizona pottery collector