This beautiful polychrome Hopi jar was made by Paqua Naha, the first Frog Woman, mother of Joy Navasie, the current Frog Woman. Joy Navasie says her mother started using the white slip on her pottery three or four years before she passed away, so this jar would date prior to the 1950s.

This jar, as all of Frog Woman's pieces, was made in the traditional manner, from gathering the clay, molding, coiling the pot, slipping, polishing, painting and firing with sheep dung. She never reverted to using anything of a commercial product in her work.

The main body of the jar is designed with traditional Hopi designs and the beautiful and graceful curvature of the neck was left without design. The design on the body was divided into four panels that are separated by a series of parallel vertical lines. The framing line at the neck and the one at the underbody do not have ceremonial line breaks. The interior of the rim was stone polished in the same manner as the exterior white slip.

Condition:  overall the vessel is in very good condition. There is some very minor rubbing of the painted design—nothing unusual for a vessel of this age. It is signed with a frog hallmark that is distinguishable from the frog hallmark used by Joy Navasie.

Provenance: from a gentleman in California

Recommended Reading: Hopi-Tewa Pottery 500 Artist Biographies by Gregory Schaaf