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Stone Figure
Stone Figure

Stone Figure

Datec. 100-1000
DimensionsOverall: 14 3/4 × 5 1/2 × 8 3/8 in. (37.5 × 14 × 21.3 cm)
Object numberT0766
Credit LineLoan from the Eugene V. and Clare E. Thaw Charitable Trust
Photograph by John Bigelow Taylor, NYC
Label TextThis ancient stone bowl has numerous shamanic symbols. A rattlesnake stretches along the backbone, and small snakes form the head of the rattlesnake on the front of the bowl. The human’s skeletal ribs and shoulder blades suggest shamanic power, and the enlarged eyes refer to the shaman’s ability to see what the uninitiated cannot. He sings or calls the spirits with his open mouth. The bowl may have been used in purification rituals associated with female puberty rites, or by shamans to gaze into the spirit world or to divine the future.
Exhibition History"Treasures from the Thaw Collection," Wheelwright Museum of American Indian Art. Santa Fe, NM, May 1, 2000 - December 31, 2000.

"Art of the American Indian: The Thaw Collection," The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH, March 2, 2010 - May 30, 2010; Minneapolis Museum of Art, Minneapolis, MN, October 24, 2010 - January 9, 2011; Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas, TX, April 24, 2011 - September 23, 2011; Indianapolis Museum of Art, Indianapolis, IN, December 4, 2011 - February 12, 2012.

"Les Maitres du Desordre Travelling," CaixaForum, Madrid, Spain, January 31, 2013 - May 19, 2013; Kunst-und Ausstellungshalle der Bundesrepublik Deu, Bonn, Germany, August 31, 2012 - December 2, 2012; Musee du Quai Branly, Paris, France, April 10, 2012 - July 29, 2012.
ProvenanceMrs. W.H. Cross, found in a rose garden in Victoria, British Columbia, in 1960; Mr. and Mrs. R.E.B. Gore-Langton, Victoria, British Columbia; Howard Roloff, British Columbia; Fred Roloff, British Columbia; George Terasaki, New York City; private collection, New York City
BibliographyDuff, Wilson. Images, Stone, B.C.: Thirty Centuries of Northwest Coast Indian Sculpture. Saanichton, B.C.: Hancocl House, 1975, p. 21, p. 43, pp. 50-51, fig. 30, pp. 53-55, p. 146, fig A, p. 147, p. 172, fig. 30.

The McKillop Report: The American Indian Newsletter. October/November 1983, p.3.

Berlo, Janet and Ruth Phillips. Native North American Art. New York: Oxford University Press, 1998, p.180, fig.119, p.252.

Vincent, Gilbert et al. Art of the North American Indians: The Thaw Collection. Cooperstown, New York: Fenimore Art Museum, 2000, p.305.

"Museum Accessions." The Magazine Antiques. September 2000: 260.

Brown, Steven C. Transfigurations: North Pacific Coast Art George Terasaki Collector, Seattle: Marquand Books, 2006, plate 19.

Jonaitis, Aldona. Art of the Northwest Coast. Seattle and London: University of Washington Press, 2006, pg. 18.

Loisy 2012, p. 164, fig. 1.

Fognell, Eva, ed. Art of the American Indians: The Thaw Collection. Cooperstown, NY: Fenimore Art Museum, 2010, p. 140.

Fognell, Eva and Alexander Brier Marr, eds. Art of the North American Indians: The Thaw Collection at the Fenimore Art Museum, 2nd ed. Cooperstown, New York: Fenimore Art Museum, 2016, p. 324.
On View
Not on view
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5798 STATE HIGHWAY 80
COOPERSTOWN NY, 13326
607-547-1400

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