For the third time, collector Alan Kessler will bring to market approximately 300 noteworthy lots, with katsina dolls taking center stage. Ethnographic Art Signature Auction is to occur at Heritage Auctions on October 14, highlighting the best from Kessler’s renowned collection, further exemplifying his reputation as the collector who “made the market” in katsina figures.
Hopi dance figure and coiled snake, circa 1890 Estimate: $50/75,000
“This is a unique auction of a single owner’s collection,” says Delia Sullivan, Heritage Auctions’ American Indian art specialist. “Kessler’s careful and discriminating eye has allowed him to gather some of the most important and rare works to be presented at any auction of American Indian art in recent years. We expect that these works will enter some very special collections, both established and newer.”
Sullivan further notes that Kessler’s offerings at the Heritage sale are highly valuable examples of katsina figures—considered pre-commercial and dated quite early. One such piece, pictured here, “is an early Hopi polychrome wood dance figure, circa 1890, facing off with a coil rattlesnake,” Sullivan explains. “This is the only known example of a snake-dancing figure with a separate snake. The figure wears a fringed buffalo-hide sash emblazoned with a serpent; his stylized head sports naturalist features and ‘secular’ eyes. The little snake looks up into the dancer’s face, hypnotized by the dancer’s gaze.”
Zia figure holding pottery canteen Estimate: $18/22,000
Also pictured here is a rare Zia Pueblo wood figure that features a “secular-eyed beauty showing a toothy smile and holds a pottery canteen, and wears a finely knotted string sash,” Sullivan explains. Kessler has also noted this unique figure is the only known carving of this type from the Pueblo.
Other works in the collection include several polychrome figures, and Zuni, Hopi and Navajo tribes dating from the late 1800s to early 1900s.
Heritage expects enthusiastic sales from all over the world for what they’re calling a “once in a generation collecting opportunity…”
October 14, 2022
Ethnographic Art Signature Auction
Heritage Auctions, 2801 W. Airport Freeway, Dallas, TX 75261
(214) 528-3500, www.ha.com
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