Nampeyo

Nampeyo
Num-pa-yu
(Tewa: snake that does not bite)
Nampeyo, ca. 1900, photograph by A.C. Vroman
Born1859[1]
Hano pueblo, Arizona
Died1942 (aged 82–83)
Arizona
NationalityHopi-Tewa (United States)
Known forceramic artist
MovementSikyátki Revival
SpouseLesou (second husband)

Nampeyo (1859[1] – 1942)[2] was a Hopi-Tewa potter who lived on the Hopi Reservation in Arizona.[3][4] Her Tewa name was also spelled Num-pa-yu, meaning "snake that does not bite". Her name is also cited as "Nung-beh-yong," Tewa for Sand Snake.[5]

She used ancient techniques for making and firing pottery and used designs from "Old Hopi" pottery and shards found at 15th-century Sikyátki ruins on First Mesa.[6] Her artwork is in collections in the United States and Europe, including many museums like the National Museum of American Art, Museum of Northern Arizona, Spurlock Museum, and the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology at Harvard University.

A world record for Southwest American Indian pottery was declared at Bonhams Auction House in San Francisco on December 6, 2010, when one of Nampeyo's art works, a decorated ceramic pot, sold for $350,000.[7]

  1. ^ a b Other sources cite 1860 or 1868.
  2. ^ "Infinity of Nations: Southwest". National Museum of the American Indian. Smithsonian Institution. Retrieved 8 June 2016.
  3. ^ Dillingham, Rick. Fourteen Families in Pueblo Pottery. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1994. ISBN 0-8263-1499-6. pp. 14–15
  4. ^ Various sources give 1856 or 1860 as Nampeyo's birthdate.
  5. ^ Cite error: The named reference :0 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  6. ^ Cite error: The named reference Timeline was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  7. ^ Loomis, Brandon (December 27, 2010). "Raid drives down demand for American Indian artifacts". The Salt Lake Tribune. San Francisco. Retrieved September 21, 2017.