$120.00
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Late 20th Century
1.75" H x 5.5" L x 4.375" W
Hand Coiled from Local Peach Colored Clay with Hand Painted Turtle Details
From a Private Colorado Collection
Excellent Condition
Hopi pottery, originating from the Hopi people of northeastern Arizona, is a revered Native American art form deeply rooted in cultural, spiritual, and historical traditions. The Hopi (meaning "peaceful people") are part of the broader Pueblo cultural group, and their ceramics are hand-coiled using local clays, polished, painted with natural pigments from plants and minerals (like beeweed for black and red iron oxide), and fired outdoors in manure to achieve the signature buff-to-orange hues. Designs often draw from ancestral patterns, symbolizing elements like rain, migration, nature, and clan symbols. Pottery production remains a family-based craft, passed down through matrilineal lines, and continues today on the Hopi Reservation's three main mesas, particularly First Mesa where Walpi village is located.
Walpi, one of the oldest continuously inhabited communities in North America (dating back to around 1100 CE), sits atop First Mesa and is known for its defensive mesa-top architecture and strong pottery traditions. Potters from Walpi and nearby villages like Hano (a Hopi-Tewa community) have historically contributed to the "Sikyátki Revival" style, inspired by ancient designs from the excavated ruins of Sikyátki village (ca. 1375–1625 CE). This style features bold, asymmetrical motifs on a polished yellow-orange surface.
Turtle motifs are common in Hopi pottery, symbolizing longevity, fertility, and protection (as turtles carry their homes and are associated with water and earth clans). They often appear in ceremonial vessels, storytellers, or decorative pieces, surrounded by geometric patterns like waves (representing water) or feathers.
Condition:
Excellent
Tribe:
Hopi
Year Range:
1975 - 2000
Region:
Southwest
Dimensions:
1.75 in5.5 in4.38 in
Category:
Pottery - Turtle Collection
