Hopi Kokopelli Katsina Doll [SOLD]

Kokopelli, the hump-backed Flute Player, has been notoriously denigrated in the Southwest with tourist-related items such as coasters, napkins, magnets, and other kinds of miscellaneous bric-a-brac. Some of the interest in him is because he is so blatantly phallic in appearance. In reality, however, he is a very important personage to the pueblo people. He appeared in Mimbres and Hohokam pottery decorations of a thousand years ago. He also is documented in petroglyph drawings and pictographs representations.

He is only considered a Flute Player when he uses a flute during a plaza dance; otherwise he is a fertility personage, a seducer of females, a bringer of babies, and other fertility functions. He is not presented for the amusement of an audience but for his serious functions. He is not meant to be laughed at but should be respected.

Some carvers exaggerate his phallic nature when carving dolls, others show him fully dressed. Properly, he should exhibit genitals and, importantly, a humped back which is a repository for sperm and is meant to illustrate his appeal to women.  He has a very phallic protrusion on his face.

The doll has been dated circa 1930s-1940s from a previous collection. 

Condition; very good condition overall with right foot broken and repaired. There is some abrasion to the paint. 

Provenance:

-        ex. Bob Whiteside collection which was sold through R. G. Munn Auction

-        Currently from the collection of an Oklahoma family

Recommended Reading:  Kachinas: Spirit Beings of the Hopi by Alexander Anthony, et. al.