This is an incredibly intricate small jar by Dextra Quotskuyva.   It was made in the early 1980s and has a high shoulder and a short neck.  The jar is polished with the natural color of the clay and a tan clay on the inside of the rim.  There is a medallion on each side.  One side has a tightly painted lizard.  I thought this always looked like a fox or some other animal, but when I was at Dextra’s house working on Spoken Through Clay, I showed her a piece with this same design.  She said it was a lizard, so that’s what I continue to call it.  The opposite side is a design I have never seen before.  It looks like a beetle.  Check out the details in the head and the checkerboard designs below.  It is outstanding!  It is an exceptional piece for its size and reflects Dextra’s detail in painting!   It was traditionally fired so that there are blushes and color variations around the surface.  It is signed on the bottom with bee-weed, “Dextra” with an ear of corn representing the Corn Clan.  It is in excellent condition with no chips, cracks, restoration or repair.

Brand

Quotskuyva, Dextra Nampeyo (1928-2019)

Dextra Quotskuyva Nampeyo

Few potters have had such an impact on their art as Dextra.  She was a great-granddaughter of Nampeyo of Hano, descending through her eldest daughter, Annie Healing.  She was one of Hopi's most creative, innovative, and influential potters for almost forty years.  She is also the mother of famed painter Dan Namingha and potter Hisi Quotskuyva.  She taught Steve Lucas, Loren Ami, Yvonne Lucas, and Les Namingha to make pottery, resulting in Hopi pottery's nearly unprecedented influence.  Dextra used the bee-weed plant for the black and native clay slips for the red.  Dextra's pottery can be found in numerous museums' permanent collections and has been the subject of a book and exhibition at the Wheelwright Museum entitled "Painted Perfection."  Dextra Quotskuyva Nampeyo uses traditional Hopi pottery methods in hand coil construction, stone polish, paint, and open fire.

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