Hopi Pueblo Black on Red Deep Pottery Bowl by Zella Cheeda [SOLD]

Hopi Pueblo artist Zella Cheeda’s approach on the design of this deep bowl is reminiscent of the prehistoric Sikyatki pattern.  This pattern was often used by the famous matriarch Nampeyo of Hano.  You can see this here with a design of a bird with swooping tail feathers curving around the lower part, with a decidedly apparent bird’s beak and wing feathers, above which is a separate section filled with a very abstract bird showing beak and tail and two parallel lines for wings, the bird floating on clouds.  This was achieved by application with the edge of a self-made paint brush made out of the yucca leaf.

Zella Cheeda didn’t stop at interior designs.  The exterior design is of abstract bird elements and a floating cloud design.  The jar has a black rim and a wide black line with a thin black line on the inner edge of the bowl.

Zella Cheeda (1901-1997) was known as Antelope Woman or Antelope Girl and signed her pottery with the image of an antelope.  She was Hopi from the First Mesa village of Sichomovi and was an active potter from 1950 to 1980.  She was particularly well known for her redware Hopi pottery such as this bowl.  She is represented in the Museum of Northern Arizona and the National Museum of the American Indian collections.  She was born in 1901 and passed away in 1997.

Condition: very good condition

Provenance: this Hopi Pueblo Black on Red Deep Pottery Bowl by Zella Cheeda is from the collection of a gentleman from Colorado

Recommended Reading: “HOPI AND HOPI-TEWA POTTERY” Published in Plateau, volume 49, Museum of Northern Arizona

Relative Links: Southwest Indian Pottery, Hopi Pueblo, Contemporary Pottery, Zella Cheeda - Antelope Woman or Antelope Girl, Nampeyo of Hano