Hopi Bowl Pottery By Nampeyo of Hano

ca. 1910

2.125″ H x 6.375″ D

Broken and restored; Buff Colored Clay Bowl with Painted Geometric Design and has a Photo of pre restoration.

In Very Good Condition

Nampeyo ofHano (c. 18571942) is celebrated as one of the most influential Native American potters of the 20th century, a Hopi-Tewa artist who revitalized traditional Hopi ceramics through her innovative designs inspired by ancient pottery shards from sites like Sikytki. Born in the Hopi-Tewa village of Hano (also known as Tewa Village) on First Mesa in Arizona, Nampeyo learned pottery-making from her mother and grandmother, initially creating utilitarian Tewa-style vessels. However, her true legacy emerged in the 1890s when she began excavating and adapting prehistoric motifssuch as birds, feathers, katsinas, and geometric patternsfrom 15th17th-century Hopi ruins. This sparked the “Sikytki Revival,” elevating Hopi pottery from everyday ware to fine art collected worldwide. By the early 1900s, her work was exhibited at events like the 1898 Chicago World’s Fair and sold through tourist outlets such as the Hopi House at the Grand Canyon, blending cultural preservation with economic necessity. Nampeyo’s bowls, in particular, exemplify her mastery. She favored shallow to medium-depth forms with incurved rims, often featuring a small hanging lug (a practical handle for suspension) and built from coils of Jeddito yellow clay, finished with a cream slip and fired to produce natural polychrome effectsshades of red, black, and orange from fire clouds. Her designs were fluid and inventive, never rigidly copying the past but evolving motifs like eagle tails, spider webs, or Pahlikmana katsinas into dynamic compositions that filled the bowl’s interior basin, often divided into balanced fields.

Provenance: From the Len and Toni Wood Private Collection, Laguna Beach, California