Diné (Navajo) Jar with Appliqué Design [SOLD]

Rita Manygoats is a daughter of famous Diné potter, Betty Manygoats.  She has been stated to be the best potter of Betty’s daughters.  She hand builds her pottery in the traditional manner and fires them in a low-temperature outdoor fire using sheep dung.  Some of her pottery has appliquéd designs and others have lifestyle elements.

The jar has a globular body with a long tapering neck that ends in scallops around the rim.  On the shoulder of the body, below the neck, is a star-shape appliqué design with the standard ceremonial line break seen on all pottery and baskets of the Diné.  Navajo pitch pottery is a low temperature fired ceramic. Variations in color and dark areas on the pots that are referred to as "fire clouds" result from and are an indication of the traditional firing process that uses sheep dung as fuel.  The jar is signed Rita M on the underside.

Condition: very good condition

Provenance: from the collection of Jan and Chuck Rosenak, authors of The People Speak Navajo Folk Art

Recommended Reading: The People Speak: Navajo Folk Art by Chuck and Jan Rosenak