**First Time At Auction**

Native American, Southwest, New Mexico, Santa Clara Pueblo, Tewa Tribe, Nicolasa Naranjo (1907 to 2002), ca. 20th century CE. Signed "Nicolasa / Santa Clara" on base. A gorgeous wheel-thrown pottery bowl with a circular base and thick walls that rise outward to a bulbous body and then cave inwards to an annular base, along with 3 petite stone fetishes, each carved in the likeness of a bear. Highly burnished with a lustrous finish, the elegant vessel is intricately decorated with a stylized depiction of Awanyu (or Avanyu) painted in shades of cream and black matte over the shiny sienna-hued ground. The curious creature presents with an arrow-like lengthy tongue, a rectangular snout, a curved and zig-zagged horn, 4 stubby legs, 2 staircase-like wings, 4 spikes, and a pointed tail all on an extended snake-like body that wraps around the entire bowl and is embellished with spots and jagged and wavy stripes. Size of bowl: 4.3" W x 3" H (10.9 cm x 7.6 cm); Size of largest fetish (without feathers): 1" L x 0.25" W x 0.5" H (2.5 cm x 0.6 cm x 1.3 cm)

The 3 bear fetishes, 2 a lovely shade of deep grey and the other a vibrant turquoise, are all adorned with beads of white, blue, black, red, tan, and turquoise strung on wires along their backs. Nice tufts of brown and white turkey feathers and 2 pink feathers embellish the back of 1 turquoise and 1 grey fetish.

Provenance: private Orange County, California, USA, collection acquired before 2000

All items legal to buy/sell under U.S. Statute covering cultural patrimony Code 2600, CHAPTER 14, and are guaranteed to be as described or your money back.

A Certificate of Authenticity will accompany all winning bids.

We ship worldwide to most countries and handle all shipping in-house for your convenience.

#156898

Signature reading "Nicolasa / Santa Clara" inscribed on base. Minor abrasions and nicks to bowl and fetishes, with light darkening to pigment across bowl, otherwise intact and very good. Nice remaining pigment throughout.