Sikyatki-style Polychrome Large Seed Jar [SOLD]

This very large Southwest Indian Pottery seed jar, from Hopi Pueblo, with an extreme flexure and an amazing design is not signed with the name of a potter.  The shape is reminiscent of Sikyatki seed jars and is certainly a contemporary creation meant to respect the work of the Sikyatki potters.  The design is comprised of triangles, rectangles, squares and lines executed in yellow, black and red pigments.  The seed jar balances beautifully on a base the diameter of a U. S. quarter coin.

The potter of this jar was obviously an excellent one.  It is most difficult to form the upper slope of the shoulder from the mid-body to the rim without it collapsing while the clay was wet.  The potters of Sikyatki, Nampeyo of Hano, Priscilla Nampeyo and others have made similar shapes but it takes an excellent and experienced potter to do so.  This does not appear to be the work of any of the Nampeyo family.

Condition: excellent condition

Recommended Reading: Canvas of Clay: Seven Centuries of Hopi Ceramic Art by Edwin L. Wade and Allan Cooke

Provenance: from a gentleman in Colorado