Zuni Picasso Marble Bear Cub with Fish Fetish Carving

This Bear Cub is Sneaking Away with a Fish in its Mouth!

This small bear is naturalistically carved in Picasso Marble from Utah with inlaid turquoise eyes and a big fish held tightly in its teeth of gold mother of pearl. It features a lot of detail carving and texturing. It measures 2" long and 3/4" high. The artist, Brenda Yatsattie signed the piece on the bottom. It follows the newer tradition of naturalistic rendering and movement now popular among Zuni carvers.

The Zuni fetish tradition is many thousands of years old, serving important purposes in their religious and ceremonial life. The animals chosen traditionally embodied the six compass directions: The Wolf, from the East; The Badger (or Bobcat), from the South; The Bear from the West; The Mountain Lion from the North, the Eagle from the skies above and the Mole from deep below, in the darkness. Each serves as a protective spirit concerning the direction it embodies, but also offers many other spiritual gifts as well.

Other Southwestern Pueblos and tribes, including the Navajo, Lakota and Apache also make use of carved animal fetishes in ceremony and for personal protection. Besides the directional protectors, there are other traditional animals each serving a different purpose, such as hunting guides. In the past twenty or so years, as the carving art developed to serve collectors as well as the cermonial functions, other animals, not from native fauna are carved as well. This has created a great demand for new and unusual carvings as well as the traditional, ceremonial ones. While a carving remains an inanimate object unless it has been consecreated into a religious ceremony by a religious leader, they do embody a sense of the awe and beauty of the natural world and the balance and harmony sought by the Zuni people.

One of the most interesting documents discussing the Zuni traditions, was written and first published in 1910 by Frank Hamilton Cushing. It is titled Zuni Fetishes and it was drawn from Mr. Cushing's three years in Zuni at the behest of the Museum of Natural History in New York City. There are many other books that investigate the artform as it has evolved since then as well

This fetish carving represents a wonderful, ancient tradition that will grace any collection.

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