Nampeyo, Fannie – Migration Pattern Jar (1970’s)

6"w x 4"h

$ 1,100.00

This is a classic round-shoulder jar by Fannie Nampeyo. She was the youngest daughter of noted potter Nampeyo of Hano and also the mother of noted potters Iris Nampeyo, Leah Nampeyo, and Thomas Polacca.  She was certainly among the most skilled of her generation for painting designs pottery.  While her mother revived the “migration” or bird wing design, Fannie made is a signature design of her pottery and of the Nampeyo family.  This jar has a very round shoulder and a short neck.  It is painted with a migration pattern which dominates the surface of this piece.  The migration pattern, or bird wings, extend around the entire jar in eight sections.  The jar was traditionally fired so that it has some visually striking blushes on the surface.  It is signed on the bottom, “Fannie Nampeyo” and a corn plant representing the corn clan.   It is in very good condition with no chips, cracks, restoration or repair.  Dextra Quotskuyva Nampeyo said of  the migration pattern:

“This is the one design that was really stressed for us to use, the migration pattern. Nothing but lines, representing the migration of all the people to all the places, including down below and up above. It has seven points at the top and bottom. All the x’s represent life from the bottom and top, telling you the universe is one. The thin lines, I just wanted to paint them real fast and real close to try and include everyone.”  Dextra Quotskuyva Nampeyo, Spoken Through Clay