Diné (Navajo) Small Lidded Polychrome Seed Jar [SOLD]

Forty-two year old Wallace Nez has set the standard for contemporary Navajo pottery.  He produces pottery in the traditional manner by gathering and processing natural clay, coiling and building the pottery, scraping and sanding and finally carving intricately designs on the surface. This small seed jar is a combination of sgraffito carving and painting.  It is so intricately designed and painted that it reminds one of Moroccan inlay. Every millimeter of the surface is covered with design.  Colorful butterflies are in circles on the top and also appear on the handle.

The underside of the Diné (Navajo) seed jar is designed in the style of a Navajo ceremonial basket and each strip in the coils was individually carved, not just painted.  It is signed on the underside with the name Wallace Nez and the numbers 232, perhaps the 232^nd pottery vessel he made? 

According to the Heard Museum Gift Shop, Nez sold his first piece at the age of 12.  He won first place ribbons at the Santa Fe Indian Market in 1999, 2000, and 2001 and Best of Division at the Museum of Northern Arizona Market Show in 1999.

Condition: original condition

Provenance: from the collection of a resident of California