Butterfly
Maiden 
Zuni
Fetish Carving
Marble
with inlaid turquoise by
Zuni artist Dilbert Gasper.
Material | Marble with inlaid turquoise |
Length | 2 1/2" |
Height | 2" |
Width | 3/8" |
Hallmarks |
Dilbert Gasper Zuni (signed in script) |
Artist | Dilbert Gasper, Zuni |
Besides
the wonderful carving and inlay,
there is also fine etching on entire piece.
Zuni
Fetish Carving
Butterfly Maiden
$94 SOLD
Butterfly Maiden
The butterfly symbolizes a wide variety of things to Native Americans.
Although a butterfly is often associated with beauty or transformation, in the Zuni way, the butterfly would more likely symbolize corn, rain and summer.
Butterflies herald summer and help the corn grow. Their fluttering wings symbolize cloud movement and rain. Their many beautiful colors symbolize the colors of corn, yellow, red, blue, white and black.
The butterfly is also a great warrior. In the story of how the art of war came to the San Juan Pueblo, it is said that two boys followed a yellow butterfly west to the Jemez Mountains. There, the butterfly turns into the Yellow Kachina who teaches the boys the art of war and then sends them back to their people with their newly-gained knowledge and experience and with weapons to wage war.
The Butterfly Maiden (also called The Palhik Mana) is also included with kachinas but is really not a kachina. It depicts a woman dancing.
What is a Fetish? A fetish is a rock carving of an animal that captures the spirit and the essence of the animal, not necessarily its exact detailed conformation. Read more about fetishes.
Marble. Most marble is 90% calcite or dolomite. It is commonly white, brown, black and mottled or variegated. Read more about stones.