This is a classic polychrome jar by Nathan Begaye.  He was a unique innovator among Pueblo and Navajo potters.  His ethnic connection to both Hopi and Navajo let his clay art flow between the two distinctive styles and yet find its own unique space.  His work used traditional designs, forms, and techniques, yet somehow appeared very modern.  This jar has a round shoulder and a turned-out rim.  It is fully polished and then painted.  It is one of the pieces I have had by Nathan with such a “classic” Hopi-Tewa design. The rim of the jar is painted with a checkerboard pattern and note how the inside of the neck is polished red.  The shoulder is the classic Eagle Tail design revived by Namepyo of Hano.  Of course, Nathan added his own variations to the design.  There are four eagle tails. Each is painted with various colors of clay.  Each color would be added to the surface and then stone polished, one at a time!  I watched him do this style and it was very time consuming. The results, however, are beautiful.  Separating each of the eagle tails is a small bird.  Each bird is different as two have incised designs, one is mottled and one is checkerboard.  Knowing Nathan, there was probably a story about each of the different birds and how they were connected to each of the four different eagle tails.  The jar was traditionally fired to create the blushes on the surface.  The piece is in excellent condition with no chips, cracks, restoration, or repair.  It is signed on the bottom, “Nathan Begaye”.  It is from 1993.  The last photo is a picture I took of Nathan when he was living in Phoenix.  He moved there for several years and I would go to his apartment and see what he was working on and hear the stories about his pottery, the clays, and his firings.