This wide vessel by Al Qoyawayma is entitled, “Cosmos”.  Al writes:

The inspiration for this pottery design is from a unique kiva mural found at Pottery Mound near Albuquerque. These murals vividly reflect Hopi/Sikyatki designs.  The Pottery Mound reflects interaction with Central American cultures and cosmology.  The mural commemorates an ancient celestial event(s) often associated with Quetzalcoatl and meso-american cosmology. One of the most valuable ancient artifacts curated in the NMAI collections is a Mixtec shield which reflects the patterns in recent physics discovery, patterns even recorded in today’s Hubble photos.  A real event occurred several thousand years ago most like a super intense aurora, the likes of which we have not seen in recorded history.  What was recorded and memorialized in petroglyphs, murals, sculptural creations and cultural artifacts that agree with recent high energy laboratory experiments (at Los Alamos) that have defined a new page in modern physics. This phenomenon (or has been consistently recorded world wide in prehistory, notably at Stonehedge and on the Nazca Plain, which I call the “28-56 phenomenon”.

The modern discovery in physics is called a “Z-pinch” (a potential point of star creation) which is a visible high energy plasma event.  It is the generation of circular electrical and magnetic fields that among other things visibly exhibit a numerical reduction pattern of 128, 56, 28, 14, 7, 4 which are exhibited in antiquities such as Al Qöyawayma’s Mixtec shield and Cosmos vessel.  It is hypothesized  that creation of this condition has been generated by strong emissions from the sun interacting with the Earth’s magnetic field, far beyond that commonly observed as an aurora.

Conclusion: This art memorializes in cultural context what my ancient ancestors saw and accurately recorded. That recording agrees with recent scientific discovery in high energy physics. In time this discovery will change our understanding of the universe.

The top of the jar is fully carved and the designs extends into the lid.  The various colors are all derived from natural clay slips.   The contrast of carved, polished and matte surfaces works beautifully on this piece.  The various layers of carving allow for him to give additional depth to the piece.