This is an early open bowl by Grace Chapella. This open bowl is made using traditional Hopi clay and painted with bee-weed.  The design is a butterfly maiden that is painted on the front.  There are two small holes at the top of the tablita, as this may have been made to be hung on a wall.  The bowl has slightly rounded edges.  On the edges there are four bear paws with hooked toes, which were her early hallmark.  The bowl was traditionally fired to create the blushes on the surface.  There is the original $6.00 price tag on the back.  The bowl is in very good condition with no chips, cracks, restoration or repair.  The last two images are additional information on the signature.  There is a pic of another piece I had in the gallery with the “chapella” and her bear paw.  As well, the drawing of the bear paw hallmark from the Hallmark book.

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 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.