A Hopi Polychrome Wood Kachina Doll, depicting Hemis

or (Jemez), with articulated arms held tightly at the waist, wearing red boots, kilt, black shirt with sash, armbands, and bisected case mask, the overhanging brow line surmounted by an elaborate tableta, decorated on each side with a rainbow motif and fertility symbols; trimmed with Ring-necked Pheasant (Phasianus colchicus) feathers.

William M. Fitzhugh Collection

Acquired in 1936, Museum of the American Indian, Heye Foundation, Smithsonian Institution, 19/4054

Deaccessioned via exchange with Julius Carlebach, April 26, 1946

Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco, de Young Museum, "The Surreal World of Enrico Donati," June 9 -September 2, 2007.

Timothy Anglin Burgard, The Surreal World of Enrico Donati, Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco, de Young Museum, 2007, p. 53.

Break to the right hand, re-glued with original piece. Typical wear for its age including mild surface abrasion as evidenced in illustration.
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The Hemis kachina is usually selected as the principle in the Niman Kachina Dance and is sometimes referred to as the Niman Kachina. For a discussion of the Niman Dance see Secakuku, 1995, p. 4: "In the Niman ceremony the handsome Nimankatsinam, also know as the Hemiskatsinam, accompanied by their pretty katsina maidens, bring such traditional gifts as stalks of corn, melons, katsina dolls, and bows and arrows, and dance and provide special blessing throughout the day...Their gitfs represent bounty of harvest, and great virtues of life for all mankind."