Hopi Cottonwood Root Kokopelli Katsina Doll [SOLD]

This carving of Kokopelli Katsina has a metal tag affixed to his left leg that has FENN on one side and PVT. COLL. on the other side.  This is a notation that this was in the private collection of Forrest Fenn, Santa Fe dealer and collector.  A second tag attached to the doll states a date of 1950.

Undoubtedly Kokopelli, the Humpbacked Flute Player, has caught the imagination of more people than any other Hopi kachina.  Some of that interest is because he is so blatantly phallic in nature, but beyond this he appears in every nook and cranny of the Southwest.  His image is found in all the pueblos and among the southern Indians as well. He dances happily around a Hohokam pot and chases mountain sheep through the canyons of the San Juan.  There is always speculation about what inspired this personation. Ties with Mexico and even South America have been suggested for he appears in these places.

“Among the Hopi he is a Flute Player only when he borrows a flute to dance.  Usually he appears in the Mixed Kachina Dances or sometimes in a Night Dance.  Despite these relatively minor appearances, he is thought of as a seducer of girls, a bringer of babies, a tutelary of hunting, and an excellent subject for the carving of tihus or kachina dolls.” Wright, 1973

Some carvers exaggerate his phallic nature when carving dolls, others show him fully dressed, as in this presentation.  Properly, he should exhibit genitals and, importantly, a humped back which is a repository for sperm and is meant to illustrate his appeal to women.  He has a very phallic protrusion on his face. There is a hump back on this carving.

Condition: this Hopi Cottonwood Root Kokopelli Katsina Doll is in very good condition with minor paint abrasion

Provenance: from the collection of a family from New Jersey

Reference: Wright, Barton. Kachinas a Hopi Artist’s Documentary with original paintings by Cliff Bahnimptewa