This is a striking large jar by Grace Chapella. The jar was made using traditional Hopi clay and painted with bee-weed.  The jar was originally purchased from the artist between 19539.  The imagery on the jar, the moth, is the design for which Grace is the most famous.  This jar has four sections, each with a moth.  Separating them are triangular designs representing the three Hopi mesas.  Below are the stars at night.  There is a black band around the shoulder and the wings of the butterflies are slipped and polished red.  The jar has a low shoulder but a sloping side.  It is an elegant shape!  The jar was traditionally fired and has a rich coloration from the fire clouds.  It is signed in bee-weed on the bottom, “Grace”.  It is in very good condition with no chips, cracks, restoration or repair.  It is exciting to see one of her pieces in such great condition with such beautifully painted designs!

Grace Chapella was born into the Bear Clan on February 14, 1874, at Tewa on First Mesa.  She learned to make pottery from her mother, TaTung Pawbe and also from Nampeyo of Hano, who was her neighbor.  Her name in Tewa was “White Squash Blossom”.  She was one of the great Hopi matriarchs of the last century. Grace was the sister of Laura Chapella Tomosie and Dalee, the mother of Alma Tahbo, and the great-grandmother of Mark Tahbo and Diana Tahbo. She led a remarkable life, becoming the first Hopi to fly in an airplane in 1927 and living over a century (107 years!). Grace revived designs from the Sikyatki ruins at the base of First Mesa, and it is the classic butterfly or moth pattern for which she is the most famous.