Very Large Fetish Bear of Jet with Antler Serpent
Edna Leki
- Savvy Price $3,600.00
- Gallery Price $4,200.00
- Title
- Very Large Fetish Bear of Jet with Antler Serpent
- Artist
- Edna Leki
- Medium
- Jet, turquoise, red coral, antler, sinew, feathers, shell and pitch
- Size
- 7 3/4" in length X 3 1/2" height X 3 1/4" width. Serpent is 8 1/4" X 7/8". Other creatures are 7/8" length to 1 1/4" length.
- Date of creation
- 1970's
- Condition
- Excellent
- Description
- Bears can be healers, hunters or both. This large black bear has a smooth, round body, polished to only a whisper sheen. The water serpent, Kolowisi, as he is called by the Zuni, is also one of the most powerful fetishes. Associated with lightening and rain, its bones have been crushed and ground for use in healing rituals.
- Provenance
- Fa Ke
- About The Very Large Fetish Bear of Jet with Antler Serpent
The bear is carved out of an extraordinary large and perfect piece of jet. This natural material was shaped by hand with great care. Its eyes are inlaid with turquoise.
Edna sculpted the Kolowisi (water serpent), included in the bundle on the bear's back. It is made of antler, with eyes of turquoise as well.
There are critters of red coral and jet, perhaps a fox and a wolf, as well as a small turquoise bear, attached to this bundle with sinew, along with red stone arrowheads and feathers. Pitch sprinkled with crushed turquoise and shell, coats the sinew bindings.
Everything about this Edna Leki creation is spectacular, a super-charged sculptural assembly that only few artists could do.
- About Edna Leki
- (1924-2003, Zuni) The daughter of famed Zuni fetish carver, Teddy Weahkee, her sister Mary Tsikewa also became known for carving fetishes. Edna's two daughters continued the tradition, Dinah Gasper and Lena Boone.
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