This is an exceedingly rare, authentic early Hopi pottery black-on-red tall cylindrical jar vase with classic Nampeyo bird design attributed to renowned master pottery Old Lady Nampeyo of Hano (Hopi, 1859-1942). The jar dates to the early 20th Century. The piece shows a large tall cylindrical vase like shape with red slip and painted design, known as the Nampeyo Bird in black, this paint is considered black-on-red. Nampeyo (Tewa name Num-pa-yu, meaning “snake that does not bite”) was a Hopi-Tewa potter who is one of the most renowned master of her era with works in the National Museum of American Art, Museum of Northern Arizona, Spurlock Museum and the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology at Harvard University. The works show the correct manufacture and fine craftsmanship along with being unmarked, which is consistent with other authentic Nampeyo pieces of an early age such as this piece. For a nearly identical example see the cylindrical vase, 230206-56 Nampeyo of Hano and Annie from the JN Butler Collection in the Antique American Indian Art collection, also in the same cylindrical shape with black-on-red paint, that is very similar an is not signed as well. It is generally accepted that prehistoric cylindrical jars existed at some New Mexico pueblo sites and that they were used as drinking containers for chocolate! There is no such history associated with the potters at Hopi. It has been speculated that cylindrical jars were made by request of Thomas V. Keam as a suitable item for the tourist trade. If this is true, then they were probably made as early as the 1880s (Historic Hopi Ceramics: The Thomas V. Keam Collection of the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, Harvard University; ft. Adobe Gallery). This piece is well kept with crisp paint, with no apparent major breaks, showing a large size measuring 9.75”H by 4.5”W. Shows the classic Nampeyo family bird effigy painting with fine geometric work.