Tawaquaptewa – Rare Cardboard Tablita – 1930s-40s – SOLD

I’ve only seen two of these over 40 years. This is a tablita that the old Hopi Chief Tawaquaptewa (1873-1960) made for sale. It is made of thin cardboard and would not have survived the rigors of a ceremony. Of course, he made many katsina carvings for sale, all of which he distorted due to his belief that accurate representation of katsinam should not be sold. This derived from his important role of Kikmongwi or Chief of the ancient village of Orayvi. The same distortion principle applies to this tablita in that no Hopi ceremonial tablita resembles this. The symbols are rain clouds, flower blossoms, corn stalks and ears of corn. The object is 14 1/4″ by 13″. The width of the cardboard is just under 1/4″.  This is an interesting and very rare example of his unique creations. I’ve written many articles and chapters about him including in my 2019 book, “The Great Tradition of Hopi Katsina Carvers” (Rio Nuevo) and a chapter in Julien Flak’s new book, “Katsina Calling (Galerie Flak, Paris).