Antler Moon Mother by Troy Sice

An outstanding antler Moon mother carved by Troy Sice - delivered to Sunshine in October of 2022. The mother's face is inlaid with quadrants of orange spiny oyster and a dark piece of sugilite with four strips of gold-lip alternated with four strips of pen shell dividing off the the two above mentioned quadrants. Then Troy added pen shell slit style eyes and a small pink pink spiny oyster mouth. There are diagonal strips of lapis pigment added below the maiden's eyes, simulating face paint. There is also a tablita style headdress with three turquoise dots inlaid above two pipestone pigmented inlaid lines. On the back of the tablita, Troy has incised then inlaid three lapis pigmented stars The mother wears a raised double strand necklace composed of sixteen Mediterranean coral dots with four lapis dots surrounding two Kingman Mine, turquoise pendants. The Moon Mother wears a kilt like a shawl; held in place by lovely hands carved in low relief. Jet has been inlaid all along the edges of the shawl The back of the kilt has some new elements - Troy made four star bursts - apple coral pigmented lines surround a lapis dot, lapis pigmented lines surround a purple sugilite dot, jet pigmented lines surround a turquoise dot and finally; green serpentine pigmented lines surround a coral dot. Below the stars, Troy seamlessly inlaid a strip of rounded rectangles - utilizing bits of jet, pen shell, abalone, lapis, malichite, gold-lip, red and orange spiny - to name most. There is an incised semi circle surrounding the star bursts, inlaid with jet lines - setting off six jet inlaid triangles with six malachite dots inlaid in their centers. The bottom edge of the kilt has seven sets of lapis inlaid lines that surround seven Mediterranean coral dots. Troy has told us before that perpendicular lines next to dots symbolize rain. The Moon Mother is the Sun Father's wife. She is the Celestial Keeper of the Sacred Lunar Calendar which marks special events and religious obligation/duties throughout the year for the Zuni people. This is a show stopper, people! Artist: Troy Sice (signed) Size: 1-1/2 in. wide x 1-1/4 in. deep x 4-5/8 in. tall #61277