Antler Maiden by Raymond Tsalate

A large cream and gray antler maiden with pen shell slit style eyes and apple coral inlaid mouth. Ray has the maiden wearing a Hopi traditional whirl/squash blossom hairdo - a style that suggests this maiden is unmarried. Ray painstakingly made then inlaid a seventeen dot Mediterranean coral necklace. The maiden wears a kilt like a shawl then Ray burnished the bottom edge. On the back is a sweet incised 'scene' depicting a maiden dancing around a corn stalk with two lapis pigment corn cobs held in her hands. On the other side of the corn stalk is an incised outline of a deer inlaid with jet pigment by Troy Sice with lapis inlaid eyes and apple coral heartline. Maidens symbolize abundance, fertility and feminine energy and the corn maiden is venerated in Zuni for giving up her life for the health of the community. Artist: Raymond Tsalate (signed) Size: 1-1/2 in. wide x 1-1/2 in. deep x 2-3/4 in. tall #61443