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Tile with a warrior or guard katsina
Native American, Hopi Pueblo
about 1892–99
Object Place: Hopi, Arizona, United States, Southwest
Medium/Technique
Earthenware with slip paint
Dimensions
18.1 x 9.84 x 1.27 cm (7 1/8 x 3 7/8 x 1/2 in.)
Credit Line
Seth K. Sweetser Fund
Accession Number1998.5
CollectionsAmericas
ClassificationsDecorative arts
DescriptionFlat, rectangular tile with depiction of masked and ceremonially outfitted three-quarter length, frontal figure. Brown-black border of one wide and one hairline stripe. Figure is shown with a square face and geometric figures depicting the main facial features. The figure has two curled, striped horns and short, straight, vertical hairs above the arch of the top of the head. The body is shown in a triangular, hour-glass form wearing a woven, dotted, kilt-like garment. Prominent shoulders, circles as hands, and the suggestion of feathers at the wrists complete the figure.
ProvenanceBy the 1970s, Tony Berlant, Santa Monica, CA [see note]; December 4, 1997, anonymous (consigned by Tony Berlant) sale, Sotheby's, New York, lot 200, to the MFA. (Accession Date: March 18, 1998)
NOTE: Said to have been in his collection for at least 20 years at the time of the Sotheby's sale.
NOTE: Said to have been in his collection for at least 20 years at the time of the Sotheby's sale.