Not two months after I had written the description of 2008-06 by Nampeyo and claimed that this moth design was unique to “The Old Lady,” 2008-12 with the same design by her great-great granddaughter was listed in an eBay auction in New Zealand—of all places. The pot was lot 193 in the auction. Unfortunately, someone at the auction house took a sticky label with #193 and stuck it on the red micaceous lip of the jar. When removed, even with acetone, the tape removed patches of the slip. The jar will be sent to Andy Goldsmith in NM for repair.
The shapes of the two moth pots are different; 2008-12 has micaceous red slip on the flaring lip as well as the wings. As noted in the description of 2008-06, the Nampeyo pot has a variety of heads on the four moths. As one would expected of the more “perfect” modern pot (made in August 1999), all the heads on the Hisi pot have the same form. Nampeyo’s version uses the usual black slip for most of the design; Hisi uses an unusual brown slip for the elements between the moth designs. Nevertheless, the spirit of the two pots is identical. [For another Hisi pot of similar design, see Jacka, 1992:13.]
For pottery by Hisi’s son, Lowell Cheresposy, see the Artist List.
