Hopi Seed Jar with Corn in Bas Relief by Nampeyo [SOLD]

According to Barbara Kramer in her book Nampeyo and Her Pottery, Nampeyo began making pottery with corrugations or indentations as her eyesight began failing.  Perhaps this more tactile design was easier for her as it reduced the area that needed to be decorated with painted designs.  A photograph by Emry Kopta, taken around 1920, may be the first photograph of a jar by Nampeyo with indentations in the design around the neck.  Other jars of this style in collections appear to date between 1918 and 1922.

This small historic polychrome jar by Nampeyo has impressions around the shoulder, possibly made with a stick or some other object, and four ears of corn pushed out from the inside of the jar and then impressed with a stick or other object.  These corrugated areas were slipped with red.  The indentations in the ears of corn have been painted with yellow ochre.  The remainder of the body of the jar is decorated with simple designs in black.

The typical paper label seen on many items from Keams Trading Post is on the wall of this jar.  It states From The Hopi Villages.  Very faint on the paper tag is the price 35ȼ.

Condition: very good condition for a jar approaching 100 years of age.  There is a rim chip but nothing else of significance.

Reference and Recommended Reading: Nampeyo and Her Pottery by Barbara Kramer, 1996

Provenance: from the collection of a family from Colorado