Pottery

Marcy Burns American Indian Arts features Historic Pueblo and Hopi pottery. Historic pottery generally dates from 1870-1920s, although earlier pots occasionally surface. The railroads were completed in the West in the 1880s; thus, most pots were collected and sent home during that period or later.

Pots were rarely signed by artists until contemporary times, although there are exceptions that were the result of pressure from the marketplace (an example of this is the work of Maria Martinez, which she began signing in the 1920s).

The Hopi and Pueblo continued the Anasazi tradition of pottery-making, using local clays and minerals, polishing the pot with a smooth stone or piece of gourd, painting the design with a yucca brush, and firing the pot outdoors over an open fire made of dried dung and straw cakes.

Each Historic pot can usually be identified as to pueblo, age, etc. by the materials used, the techniques used in polishing and the details of the design. Occasionally a maker can be attributed, based on study of documented jars.

We carry a large inventory of pottery. Feel free to contact us if you would like to know the availability of specific types of pots.

Featured

Casas Grandes effigy jar

6 1/8” diameter x 2 7/8” high

polychrome

2 raised salamanders

circa 1150 AD-1450 AD

excellent condition

ex: Marcy Burns American Indian Arts, LLC; Private Collection

$2450.

(mc2391)

Santa Clara seed jar

4 3/4" diameter x 3 3/4" high

natural clay and slip, reduction fired

signed Grace Medicine Flower and Camilio Tafoya

very good condition with hairline cracks emanating up from the bottom of the jar

circa 1970s-1990s

$495.

(mc2386)

Navajo jar by Alice Cling

6.25” diameter x 5.25” high

excellent condition

ex: Private Collection

$525.

(mc2349)

Hopi polychrome canteen attributed to Nampeyo

circa 6” high x 6” diameter at widest location

excellent condition

circa 1900-1910

ex: Private Collection by descent

This is a wonderful Hopi canteen. The quality and form of the pot as well as of that of the painted design clearly indicates that the canteen was likely made by Nampeyo, who is considered the Matriarch of contemporary Hopi pottery. The design is known as “Sikyaki Revival” and is known to have been used by Nampeyo.

This Nampeyo canteen is very fresh to the market. It came out of a private collection that we recently purchased.

[The rawhide strap(s) were removed and are not on the canteen anymore. They were likely not original to the canteen].

$3200.

(P0530)

Santa Clara incised jar by Grace Medicine Flower

8” diameter x 5” high

ex: Gallery 10, 1995; Private Collection

excellent condition

(mc2193b)

Grace Medicine Flower is the daughter of renowned potters Camilio Tafoya and his wife Agapita Tafoya. She is also the niece of Margaret Tafoya, the “grande dame” of pottery from Santa Clara in the 20th century. Grace’s pottery is in the White House Collection as well as in numerous major museums throughout the United States.

In her early career, Grace became known for her miniature pots, in which she usuallly used the sgraffito technique. She went on to develop and refine traditional Santa Clara incised designs, such as in this pot. Notice the avanyu (water serpent) design, developed and enlarged in the canvas of the bowl. The incising of the design is impeccable.

(mc2193)