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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Taupou, post: 3574713, member: 45&quot;]The short answer is, no it&#039;s not made by a known artist.</p><p><br /></p><p>The longer version:&nbsp; identifying pottery signed as &quot;Navajo&quot; is like trying to identify studio pottery, it&#039;s just about impossible, and, with few exceptions, will make little difference.</p><p><br /></p><p>It is actually complicated by several factors.&nbsp; Like most Navajo pottery, this piece is a decorated and fired a greenware piece, purchased from a wholesale supplier.&nbsp; So one can&#039;t get any clues from a potter&#039;s style, since it is simply one of thousands produced from a mold in a factory.</p><p><br /></p><p>The decorating technique may help, but every horsehair piece is different.&nbsp; The only thing one can look at is the style of carving.&nbsp; </p><p><br /></p><p>Unfortunately, there are few &quot;recognized&quot; Navajo potters, considering the tribe is the largest in the nation.&nbsp; The reason is that the Navajo have little history of making traditional pottery.&nbsp; Incised pottery signed &quot;Navajo&quot; basically dates back only to the 1990s, but a huge amount has been produced since then.&nbsp; </p><p><br /></p><p>Only a few potters make true &quot;traditional,&quot; all hand-made, pinon pine pitch-coated pots.&nbsp; Most Navajo pottery is made strictly for the tourist trade, and features adaptions of the traditional work of other cultures, tribes, or potters. </p><p><br /></p><p>This is complicated further by the fact that many Navajo &quot;potters&quot; actually are working for factories producing souvenir pottery, and end up simply signing the pieces with initials, followed by &quot;Navajo.&quot;&nbsp; </p><p><br /></p><p>This is not to say that there aren&#039;t some well-known potters, such as members of Alice Cling&#039;s family, or the Manygoats and Goodman families from the Cow Springs area.&nbsp; The book &quot;Navajo Folk Art, The People Speak&quot; by Chuck and Jan Rosenak is the best reference on them.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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