Young Kokopelli Girl - Kokopelli Mana Katsina - Lot 47

Young Kokopelli Girl - Kokopelli Mana Katsina Hopi, Arizona Carved wood, polychrome and fabric H. 18 cm (without base) Circa 1950 Provenance : - Néret-Minet sale, Drouot, Paris, October 25, 2002, lot 21 - Collection Léo Scheer & Nathalie Rheims, acquired at the above sale Kokopelli is an important figure in the Hopi pantheon. Often depicted as a hunchbacked flute-player, he has been the central protagonist of many native myths throughout the Southwestern United States for over a millennium. Images of Kokopelli appear on Hohokam pottery dating back to the 9th century A.D. He also appears on petroglyphs and pictographic representations of the Archaic Pueblo cultures (ancestors of today's Hopi) throughout the Four Corners region straddling the states of New Mexico, Colorado, Utah and Arizona. Kokopelli embodies the very essence of life, symbolizing fertility, joy and vitality. Although he is frequently depicted playing the flute, he is not just a musician. Kokopelli is in fact a multidimensional figure, part storyteller, part rainmaker, part healer, part teacher, part itinerant traveler, part facetious illusionist and part great seducer. Like many fertility deities, Kokopelli watches over both childbirth and agriculture. The sculpture presented here, graceful and in motion, is the female version of Kokopelli, as indicated by her fabric cape, black costume and bun hairstyle.