Hopi jar, Fannie Nampeyo (born 1900; died 1987), the youngest of “Old Lady” Nampeyo’s three daughters. This is the first Nampeyo family pot I bought. Although the “migration” design on this pot is a typical Nampeyo family pattern, it has direct links to a prehistoric design. An Awatovi black-on- yellow jar in the “Yellow Ware Road Exhibit” at the Arizona State Museum dates from about 1300 to 1375 and has a similar “migration” design. [Photo on file.] In the exhibit, this Awatovi pot is paired with a “migration” pot by Nampeyo and the aesthetic link noted. “The motif first appeared in the Hopi area about A.D. 1075” the label explains, “but had dropped from use by Nampeyo’s time.”
See also, the Jeddito black-on- yellow jar catalogue #51from the University of Pennsylvania Museum, in J.J. Brody (1990:94). Since the university pot was purchased from Thomas Keam in 1901, it may be that Old Lady Nampeyo used this or a similar Jeddito piece as a direct inspiration for the design on 1981-05. Some of the black paint on 1981-05 appears to have been added after firing.
There is a lot written about Fannie Nampeyo. For an article about Fannie, see ACA Galleries (1980:16-19). See also, Kramer (1996), the Blairs (1999, especially pp. 207-219) and Peterson (1997:110-115). For a similar 1983 Fannie pot, see Adobe Gallery (1983: 4, #10).
