This is a striking seedpot by Mark Tahbo.  He has titled this piece, “They Fly by Night”. The bowl has a bat painted on the top of the piece. The bat is painted with bee-weed (a plant) and there is an additional red clay slip used.  The bowl is traditionally fired.  Mark says of this piece,

“This bat design is usually not very common on Hopi-Tewa pottery, as it’s a nocturnal animal.  The Hopi in their beliefs fear such creature as owls and snakes.  For this piece, I was inspired by the ancient Mimbres pottery.  The bat is painted just center-right of the opening.  I added some additional clay color to the bat with the red clay slip.  The wings span slightly over the edge of the bowl.  This piece also depicts a star and the moon in two phases, one is a full moon and the other a half-moon.”

The various colorations to the clay are from the firing.  The bowl is signed on the bottom with a pipe for his “Tobacco Clan”.