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

The Hopi (short for Hopituh Shinumu – 'peaceful people') are the westernmost group of Pueblo Indians. They live in northeastern Arizona in the southwestern United States. The majority of the Hopi are part of the Hopi Tribe of Arizona, whose 12,600 square kilometer reservation is now located amidst the Navajo Nation Reservation of the Navajo (Diné) at the edge of the Painted Desert. Additional Hopi have been part of the Colorado River Indian Tribes (Mohave, Chemehuevi, Hopi, and Navajo) since 1945, in the border area between Arizona and California.

They were also called Moki or Moqui by the Spaniards, probably a borrowing of the Zuñi term for the Hopi as Mu:kwi.

The Hopi call their traditional tribal land at the southwestern edge of Black Mesa Tuuwanasave ('the center of the universe'). Most of their pueblo settlements are located on three high mesas (First, Second, and Third Mesa) that rise from the Colorado Plateau; additionally, they inhabit several villages and settlements beyond these, all within an area of 56 kilometers in circumference.

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

Some of the most beautiful ceramics, jewelry, and basketry from the Southwest come from the Hopi, who are also known for their Kachina carving and silversmithing. Today, Hopi artists also express themselves through painting, glassmaking, photography, sculpture, and other contemporary art forms.

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