Hopi Pottery Contemporary Cowboy Hat with Flower [SOLD]

Jacob Koopee was of the Nampeyo family.  He was the great-great-grandson of Nampeyo; great-grandson of Nellie Douma Nampeyo (1896-1978); grandson of Marie Koopee, and son of Georgia Koopee.  He was born in 1970 and passed away in 2011.

Early in his career, Jacob Koopee made traditional Hopi-Tewa pottery with traditional Nampeyo family design patterns.  At that time, in the mid-1990s, he signed his pottery Jake Nampeyo.  Later, he made traditional pottery vessel shapes but modernized the designs to those related to the Sikyatki-revival designs.  He signed the later pieces Koopee.

This small Hopi Pottery Contemporary Cowboy Hat with Flower is a later creation by Koopee if judged by the signature.  It most likely was made with leftover clay from a major jar or bowl being made.  Potters often make something small and interesting with the little clay left over from what they are primarily working on.  Quite often, as in this instance, the outcome is quite charming.  I recall that Nellie, his great-grandmother, made small cowboy hats.  Perhaps that is what he remembered.

Condition: original condition

Provenance: from the collection of a gentleman from Santa Fe

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