Hopi Pueblo Pang Katsina, Mountain Sheep Kachina Doll [SOLD]

This is an excellently carved and painted version of a Pang Katsina. He represents the Mountain Sheep. His head covering is beautifully proportioned to illustrate a covering over the head of the impersonator. Often, carvers with less experience will carve the case mask the same size of a human head, not leaving room for it to slide over a head. This carver was aware of the scale.

His head features a pair of horns below which is a sun shield. The face is simple-snout, rectangular eyes, and red spots on the cheeks. A green yarn ruff surrounds the neck. In his hands he carries a staff or stick. As is traditional, his skirt is a woman's manta, and he wears traditional moccasins. He appears to date to the 1940s.

Interestingly, this katsina is not listed in the books on Hopi katsinas and katsina dolls except for the book by Harold S. Colton. Perhaps the reason is he seldom dances and is not as familiar or popular in plaza dances. This katsina is believed to bring rain and make the grass grow, so that there will be plenty of game. He is supposed to have power to cure spasms. [Colton 1949:41]

This katsina is illustrated in J. Walter Fewkes "Int. Archiv Fur Ethnographie, Bd. VII" 1894, and in Fewkes "Hopi Kachinas, Bureau of American Ethnology 21st Annual Report", 1903. These illustrations illustrate well that this is a traditional katsina that has existed over a hundred years.

What is a Katsina?

Condition: very good condition for its age. There is no significant damage or abrasions.

Provenance: this Hopi Pueblo Pang Katsina, Mountain Sheep Kachina Doll is  from the collection of a client from California.

Reference: Colton, Harold S. Hopi Kachina Dolls with a Key to their Identification, University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque.

TAGS: Katsina Dolls, Hopi Pueblo, Hopi Kachina Dolls