Zuni Turquoise Standing Bear Fetish Carving

Standing, Turquoise Bear with Bone Fish. Lot's of personality!

For collectors of Zuini fetish carvings, the advent of more creativity in a very traditional art form brought a small group of carvers, including Rachel Natewa into prominence with their unusual animal choices. Initially, confined to the traditional Native animal directional spirits and Prey gods, it's now not uncommon to find elephants, African lions, dolphins and bats carved. The resulting small jewel-like sculptures are a marvel.

This standing bear, protector from the West and phy7sical health and strength, measures just 1 7/16" high. It's carved in stabilized Kingman turquoise and features inlaid coral eyes andnice surface detail. Be sure to scroll down for the rest of the images.

Bear carvings represent the most popular and significant group of traditional directional animal spirits. The bear, considered a protective spirit is associated witht he compass direction west, and protects physical health and strength. Several ye4ars ago we had a Wall Street Journal article discussing trial attorneys that carried bear fetish carvings into the courtroom in their pockets, for just a little extra "power". Fishing bears, in natureal poses like this one have been carved for the past twenty years or so. Collectors will find their collections are not complete without at least one of this carvers standing bears.