Nampeyo in her mid-70s holding a pot she has just made. Photo by Tad Nichols, 1935
The Museum is proud of its collections attributed to the renowned Hopi-Tewa potter Nampeyo (1860?-1942). Some of the attributions are unassailably correct, while others are more uncertain. Since Nampeyo never signed her pieces herself, the task of positively identifying her works is daunting. With her fame as a potter came a strong incentive for collectors and dealers to identify Hopi pottery as Nampeyo’s, whether they were certain she had actually made a given piece or not. Photographs depicting her with examples of her bowls and jars can be of assistance in helping to authenticate a given piece, but photographers who staged photos of Nampeyo may have included pottery that she did not make. To complicate matters, in her later years Nampeyo often worked in tandem; she would form the vessels and younger relatives, including daughters Annie, Fannie and Nellie, granddaughters Rachel and Daisy, and clan niece Lena Charlie painted them.
Some pottery in the collection is signed with Nampeyo’s name or is otherwise labeled as Nampeyo’s in writing directly on the piece. One piece has a gummed label, most likely a Fred Harvey Company tag, which reads: "Made by Nampeyo-Hopi." It is documented that her daughters at times signed her name to her work, and traders and dealers may have as well. Through publication of the "signatures", it is hoped that further insights on the past practices of labeling Nampeyo’s pottery can be gained.
Small polychrome jar with abstract eagle motifs, around 1900-1910.
The distinctive shape, the design execution and layout on this small version of the two previous pieces identify this as likely one of Nampeyo’s, or possibly an early jar by Fannie. The only information that accompanied the jar, bequeathed to the Museum by a Miss Leal Edmunds of North Dakota in 1968, is that it had belonged to her father. It likely also dates to around 1900-1910. By this time, the making of smaller pieces of pottery for sale was well underway.
ASM Accession Number 80-45-2