Native American Navajo Handbuilt Handetched and Handpainted Miniature Seed Pot with Bear

Description

Native American Navajo Handbuilt Handetched and Handpainted Miniature Seed Pot with Bear by Wallace Nez

This spectacular miniature handbuilt seed pot has a highly detailed painted bear in a circle of very deeply etched patterns. The body of this miniature pot was completely polished by hand with a smooth stone. Bear is the guardian of the West. Bear is associated with great strength and is considered a powerful healer. Wallace does an amazing job on these very small pieces. He is renowned for this type of detailed pottery. He digs his own clay, he fires the pots traditionally and etches and then painstakingly paints each animal. Wallace told me it takes approximately two days to make each tiny pot. Pottery ring is included, though the pot stands beautifully on its small flat bottom.

In the fall the women would take the seeds for next Spring and place them in these pots and then stack them. These pots would be placed in the corner of their home, stacked so the bottom of one pot would seal the top of the other. This storage technique would save space and keep the rodents from ruining next years' seed crop.