Kachina Giant Bird Shalako - Shalako Katsina - Lot 48

Kachina Giant Bird Shalako - Shalako Katsina Zuni, New Mexico Carved wood, pigments, feathers, shell, fiber and fabric H. 28 cm (without base and headdress) Circa 1940 Provenance : - Néret-Minet sale, Drouot, Paris, October 25, 2002, lot 42 - Léo Scheer & Nathalie Rheims Collection, acquired at the above sale Like lot 28 in this collection, this slender Kachina figure represents the Zuni Shalako spirit. Mounted on stilts, Shalako dancers open the first Kachina dance of the year in Zuni villages at the time of the winter solstice. On this example, adorned in a long cloth costume and adorned on the torso with a large painted shell pendant, we note the unusual presence of eyes made not of carved wood but of cloth.