Bowl - R. Polariate - Hopi - U.S.

The Hopi (abbreviation of Hopituh Shinumu – “peaceful people”) are the westernmost group of the Pueblo Indians. They live in the northeast of Arizona in the southwestern United States; the majority of the Hopi is part of the Hopi Tribe of Arizona, whose 12,600 km² reservation lies today in the midst of the Navajo Nation Reservation of the Navajo (Diné) at the edge of the Painted Desert. More Hopi have since 1945 been part of the Colorado River Indian Tribes (Mohave, Chemehuevi, Hopi and Navajo) in the border area of Arizona and California.

Earlier they were also called Moki or Moqui by the Spaniards, probably a borrowing of the Zuni designation for the Hopi as Mu:kwi.

The Hopi call their traditional tribal territory at the southwestern edge of Black Mesa Tuuwanasave (“the center / the middle of the universe”). Most of their Pueblo settlements lie on three high mesas (First, Second and Third Mesa), which rise from the Colorado Plateau; in addition they inhabit several villages and settlements beyond that, all of which lie within an area of 56 kilometer circumference.

The land of the Hopi is a dry high plain. The Hopi manage to coax many agricultural products from this inhospitable ground, especially corn of many varieties. Since the turn of the millennium, the supply of water and electricity in the residential areas has been expanded. The Oraibi Pueblo on Third Mesa is probably the oldest continuously inhabited settlement in the USA.

Some of the finest ceramics, jewelry and basketry of the Southwest come from the Hopi, and they are also known for their Kachina carving and silversmithing. Today Hopi artists also express themselves through painting, glassmaking, photography and visual arts (sculpture) and other contemporary art forms.

The offered bowl was produced around 1940 by R. Polariate, has a diameter of about 25 cm and is 7 cm high.