Carved Redware Pot with Hopi Imagery

This carved redware pot was made by Wallace Youvella. It's a small seed pot with sgraffito carvings. Those who are familiar with this style will recognize it as being most commonly associated with Santa Clara Pueblo. Youvella is a Hopi potter, though, which explains the imagery carved into the top of the pot.

Two figures are carved in relief. On the left, Hano Mana appears in profile, with just her mask and hair visible. On the right, Salako Mana appears, curving in a wide circle around the hole in the top of the pot. Youvella carved away much of the polished read slip, leaving only the figures, a horizontal band, and four repetitions of an additional design near the base. In the carved areas in between the designs, he added thin vertical lines. They travel from the base up to the rim. This is a small pot, but there is much to admire as far as design goes, and all of it was executed skillfully.

The bottom of the pot is signed Wallace Youvella.

Wallace Youvella, Sr. (1947- ) is a Hopi potter from the First Mesa village of Sichomovi. Youvella is the son of famous Hopi Pueblo potter Susie Youvella, however, he did not learn the techniques of making pottery from his mom, but rather watching his wife Iris Nampeyo as she worked. Early examples of Wallace's pottery are more in the style of red-slipped, stone-polished wares from Santa Clara Pueblo, then later he switched to the more traditional Hopi style. Wallace also collaborated with his wife on pottery. He began making pottery in the late 1970s, which means that he was among the earliest Hopi men to do so.

Condition: excellent condition

Provenance: from the collection of Bob & Louise Sluder, dealers/collectors active from 1955 to 1990

Reference: Hopi-Tewa Pottery: 500 Artist Biographies by Gregory Schaaf

TAGS: Hopi Pueblo, Susie Youvella, Iris Nampeyo, Wallace Youvella, Sr.