Hopi Pueblo and Pueblo
Katsina (Kachina) Figure
Hopi Pueblo, 1867-1899
Scroll
Physical Qualities
Cottonwood root(?), white, copper carbonate and pinyon gum (green), black, red pigments, 10 5/8 × 3 3/8 × 3 1/8 in. (27 × 8.5 × 8 cm.)
Credit Line
Gift of Dena S. Katzenberg, Baltimore
Object Number
1991.404
Silulu Mana (Rattlesnake Girl) with snake design above eyes Figure carved from a single block of wood. At one time the figure probably had a tableta headdress made of a separate piece of wood as suggested by slots on the sides and top of the head. Figure has green face with black and red zigzag line on forehead, red horizontal mouth outlined in black, torso has painted shawl and dress: white with black outline. Shawl has black manta designs on back: three sets of rectangle with two triangles. One green leg and one white; traces of green pigment on white leg suggest this may have been green at one time. (Figure once identified as 'Butterfly Maid' on the basis of Colton's definition: 'No mask but various types of tabletas, woman's dress, bare feet', p 131, reference cited below. I'm guessing that green is meant for the color of the face, legs & feet. With the Tableta missing, it's difficult to know what designs had been present to identify the figure.) 8/13/01: parenthetical identification is replaced by Silulu Mana per Barton Wright's letter.
Colton, Harold S., 1949, Hopi Kachina Dolls, with a Key to Their Identification. The University of New Mexico, Albuquerque. Wright, Barton, The Complete Guide to Collecting Kachina Dolls (per letter from Wright, 11/3/82).
