Rare Hopi Bowl by Nampeyo and Fannie, c.1925 updated

This is a Hopi bowl signed boldly in guaco on the bottom “Nampeyo Fannie,” indicating it was molded by Nampeyo and painted by her daughter Fannie. These rare double signatures, with Nampeyo’s name over Fannie’s, are clear evidence of the early close union between the master artist Nampeyo and her student daughter. Nampeyo’s eyesight prevented her from painting around 1920, so Fannie painted and fired the piece. They wanted us to know exactly who made this bowl and when. After Fannie married and worked alone, she signed only her name on her pieces. These rare double signed pieces give us a rare precise look inside the time frame of Nampeyo’s pottery making over seven decades. The bowl is deep, measuring 4 ¼” height and 9 ½” diameter, more like a traditional bowl. The bowl has the hallmarks of Nampeyo’s glyphs in Fannie’s bold black style around the exterior. The interior design is classic Nampeyo family, suggesting corn and kachina faces. The bowl has a special provenance: it comes from the descendants of a woman who taught piano to two Hopi girls at a residential school in Oklahoma and was given this bowl as a gift when the girls returned from a visit to Hopi. Complimentary shipping included.