Extremely rare Native American portrait vase of a woman doing beadwork, done at Rookwood in 1899 by Grace Young. Impressed marks include the company logo, which indicates the date code for 1899 and shape number 707 AA. Incised are Grace Young's tiny monogram and the notation, "Fox of Hawk Bead Work." Height and width are 9 inches. Excellent condition with faint crazing and some scratches, mostly on the back side. Pictured is a young woman, seated, working on a long string of beads. Clearly a departure from most Rookwood studies of Indians, this delicately painted portrait features a woman and she is actually doing something. Most of Rookwood's Indian portraits were taken from rigidly posed photographs of Indian men, usually standing, dressed in tribal gear with the occasional rifle or bow. In over 40 years this is only the second image of an Indian woman we have seen and one of the very few where daily work routines are featured. There may well be a photo from which Grace Young took this image but we have not uncovered it. An encampment (staged) of Sioux Indians at the Cincinnati Zoo in 1896 may also have been the impetus.

Faint crazing, minor scratches mostly on the back side