This is an exceptional jar by Ida Sahmie.  It is the Day Chant Dance with 15 male and female Yei-bi-chi dancers encircling the jar.  The top half of the jar is polished while the bottom half is matte.  The background area is the polished natural color of the clay.  In the background, there are the mesas, clouds, and even birds!  Note how she has also painted the shadows of each dancer extending to the base of the bowl.  Ida also etches into the clay for the faces and the bodies, leather, and masks of each dancer. The bottom of the jar is painted with a step cloud design, which is also used on Navajo wedding baskets.  The rim is polished red and painted with a mountain line and a spirit line break in the pattern. The jar is thin-walled and traditionally fired.  Ida is a daughter-in-law of Priscilla Nampeyo and she continues to make beautifully formed pottery with wonderfully complex designs.  She has won numerous awards for her pottery at events such as Santa Fe Indian Market.  She is the only Navajo potter creating this unique style of ethnographic pottery.  It is signed on the bottom in the clay, “Ida Sahmie”.  This jar is in excellent condition with no chips, cracks, restoration or repair.  It also has a First Place ribbon from the 2012 Navajo Nation Fair.