Hopi Pueblo Eccentric Form Pottery By Nampeyo of Hano

ca. 1910

4.625" H x 9.125" L x 3.875" W

Hand Coiled from Native Clay in a an uncommon Elongated Form with a Handle with Beautiful Geometric Paintings 

In Very Good Condition

Nampeyo of Hano (c. 1859–1942), also known as Old Lady Nampeyo, was a Hopi-Tewa potter from the village of Hano (Tewa Village) on First Mesa in Arizona. She is widely regarded as the matriarch of modern Hopi pottery and a key figure in the Sikyátki Revival, which revitalized ancestral Hopi ceramic traditions in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. 

Born into the Corn Clan, she learned basic pottery techniques from her mother and grandmother, initially working in Tewa and Hopi styles. Around the 1890s, inspired by ancient sherds from the abandoned village of Sikyátki (excavated in the 1890s), she began replicating and reinterpreting prehistoric Sikyátki Polychrome designs. These featured bold, dynamic motifs like stylized birds, feathers, migration patterns, geometric elements, and abstract symbols drawn from Hopi spiritual and ancestral themes. She sourced yellow-firing clays to achieve smooth, crackle-free surfaces and developed what became known as Hano Polychrome—a style blending polychrome (multi-color) painting on cream, orange, or red-slipped grounds with sophisticated compositions. 

Nampeyo was not only a skilled painter but also an innovator in form. While many Pueblo potters adhered closely to traditional utilitarian shapes (like ollas or bowls), she experimented with shapes for both aesthetic and practical reasons. Her work often featured low, wide "flying saucer" or saucer-like jars (designed in part to deter rodents from climbing in), rounded seed jars, and vessels with strong shoulders or everted rims. She produced pieces for household use, trade, and tourist markets, and her pottery gained international acclaim through sales to collectors, museums, and companies like the Fred Harvey Company. In her later years, as her eyesight declined, she continued forming pots while family members (daughters Annie, Fannie, and Nellie, plus granddaughters) often assisted with painting.