Description:

New World, Panama, 20th century CE. A pair of delightful, hand-carved hardwood figures (nuchu) made by women from the Cuna (Kuna) Indian tribe. One is carved to be a man holding a fish with a large bird perched on his broad-brimmed hat. The bird represents the man's spirit, while the hat represents "kurgin" - his mental and spiritual acuity. The other figure is a woman holding a pan flute. She too has a large bird perched atop her hat, again representing her spirit and "kurgin" - her mental and spiritual acuity. Both come with a custom stand. Size of tallest (man): 4" L x 3.5" W x 14.2" H (10.2 cm x 8.9 cm x 36.1 cm); height on stand: 15" (38.1 cm).

The Cuna people live on a series of thirty islands in the archipelago of San Blas in the Caribbean. This is a region of high humidity, hot temperatures, and intense rains. In their traditional medicinal practice, bad spirits of illness, known as ponis, must be expelled from the body by a traditional medicine man, an inatuledi. He does this using nucho - good spirits - who are represented in wood carvings.

Both figures are published in Ann Parker and Avon Neal, "Molas: Folk Art of the Cuna Indians," Barre Publishing, 1977.

Provenance: private Anna Parker collection, Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA

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#122442

  • Condition: Both have slight signs of wear appropriate to age.

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June 29, 2017 7:00 AM MDT
Louisville, CO, US

Artemis Fine Arts

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