Sculpture from the Collection of George Terasaki
Sculpture from the Collection of George Terasaki
HOPI FIGURE
Auction Closed
November 19, 09:20 PM GMT
Estimate
3,000 - 5,000 USD
Lot Details
Description
HOPI FIGURE
Depicting Koyemsi
Circa 1910
Height: 13 ¼ in (33.5 cm)
Cottonwood, pigments, fiber
George Terasaki, New York, acquired in the 1970s
Alexandra Pascassio and George Terasaki, Kachina: George Terasaki Collection, Paris, 2008, n.p., cat. no. 47
Like the Koshare, the Koyesmi is not a kachina, but rather a clown figure, commonly called Mud Head and shared by both the Hopi and Zuni peoples. Koyesmi "is an interlocutor between kachinas and men. It behaves as a simpleton one moment, a wise man the next." (Wright in Portago and Wright, Classic Hopi and Zuni Kachina Figures, Santa Fe, 2006, p. 142).