Nampeyo Seed Jar with Fred Harvey Sticker [SOLD]

Nampeyo of Hano produced pottery from 1879 to 1939, a sixty-three year career.  Relatively early in her career, Nampeyo began to suffer eye problems. A medical doctor, Joshua Miller, was an important acquaintance of Nampeyo and collected much of her pottery of the time.  He examined her in 1901 when she complained of eye problems. This was perhaps the beginning of the gradual descent of her eyesight which continued over the years resulting in her complete blindness.   Examination of exceptionally clear photographs of Nampeyo dated 1901 clearly show evidence of eye problems at that time. It was probably around 1920 that she began to be unable to paint her own pottery and found it necessary to have a daughter assist in that. Blair & Blair

By 1901, Nampeyo had become famous, largely due to the efforts of Thomas Keam and Nampeyo’s brother, Tom Polacca.  Her fame was to spread due to the Fred Harvey Company. In 1903, the Fred Harvey Company announced that it would build a hotel (El Tovar) at the Grand Canyon, now that a rail spur had been completed to the Grand Canyon in Arizona.  By 1905, El Tovar was completed and, along with it, a structure called Hopi House, which was to become a curio shop, museum, storehouse, theater, and living quarters.  Shortly after it opened in 1905, Nampeyo and her family were moved into the living quarters and spent the summer demonstrating lifeways of Hopi Indians.   She demonstrated making pottery and, since she was unable to write her name, the Fred Harvey Company printed labels to affix to her work that stated “Made by NAMPEYO-HOPI.”

This jar, fortunately, still retains the label attached to the jar.  Nampeyo demonstrated at Hopi House in 1905 and again in 1907. This is the likely period in which this jar was made.  It features a design repeated three times around the shoulder. Each of these has a square in the center with fine lines outlining a star-type element.  From this square are two long horizontal elements representing stylized birds. The birds’ heads are brown and their beaks curve over the shoulder toward the underbody.  The tail feathers are quite obvious. The jar has the tell-tell rolled out rim and wide framing line just below the opening.

Condition: this Nampeyo Seed Jar with Fred Harvey Sticker is in very good condition with a large fire cloud on one side.

Provenance: from a gentleman in Albuquerque

Reference: The Legacy of a Master Potter: Nampeyo and Her Descendants by Mary Ellen Blair and Laurence Blair