Diné (Navajo) Piñon Pitch Jar with Handles [SOLD]

Mary Lou Davis and her mom, Kate Davis, are skilled potters.  Kate Davis learned pottery making as a child from her grandmother, Selena Williams.  She has followed the time-honored practices of the craft as taught by her grandmother.  Many of her vessels are used by Navajo for ceremonial functions.   Mary Lou has also followed tradition in making pottery.  In this jar she limited the decoration to a rope-like band around the neck and included the traditional ceremonial line break at the handles.  There are a couple small fire clouds and the jar is coated in a finely placed piñon pitch film.

Condition: original condition

Provenance: from the personal collection of Chuck and Jan Rosenak, collectors and authors of books on Navajo folk art.

Recommended Reading: “Navajo Pottery,” Plateau, Vol. 58, No. 2. Quarterly publication of the Museum of Northern Arizona. May be ordered from the Museum of Northern Arizona Press, Route 4, Box 720, Flagstaff, Arizona 86001.