Featured 2 Native American Items Small Seed Pot and ?

The square piece is most likely a lid to another pot. It's probably Santo Domingo, or possibly Jemez. Zia clay is tempered with basalt, which leaves tiny black specks in the clay, and I don't see any indication of that in the photo.

The bowl is more problematic. It appears to be Mexican, a Mata Ortiz pot, which has been altered to make it look like, and be mistaken for, an older Hopi piece. The clay colors are similar, and they are often confused by those unfamiliar with both. Mata Ortiz pots are signed by incising the signature, Hopi pots are signed with the same paint used for the designs, a black vegetal paint made from tansy mustard plants. Mata Ortiz pots are rounded and polished on the bottoms, Hopi pots have flat bottoms. And the design patterns are distinctly different.

The layout of the designs on this pot, with triangles and parallel lines within bands, is distinctively Mata Ortiz, not Hopi style. And it looks like the pot has been scratched to obliterate the incised signature that would be on a Mata Ortiz pot. That is not the result of normal wear.

And finally, those numbers were probably put on to make it appear to be from an "old collection." But the darker spots in each number sure makes it look like it was done with a felt pen marker. Even in the days when numbers were put on pots (with fine-line black ink, not a felt pen) they wouldn't have been this large, nor such a long series of numbers. And only a complete idiot would deface a pot like this today. Which isn't to say there aren't some out there. But it just wouldn't be done by a serious collector.

 

Thank you, Taupou.
Your posts are so educational. Always. I see where i was misled with the Hopi vibe. Dang! I would love to take a course/class from you. Thank you.

 

Thanks Taupou. The seed pot does have a flat spot on the base, it is not rounded.