Antler Avanyu Fetish by master Teddy Weahkee 1890-1965

8.5" incl feather

Mid 20th Century

Teddy Weahkee (1890-1965) was a respected Zuni elder artist, carver, jeweler, and make of traditional arts. He attended Phoenix Indian School, fought in World War I, married Cheyenne beadworker Anna Lefthand, and served as Governor of Zuni Pueblo. He learned about Zuni fetishes as a spiritual elder and working with Leekya on the excavation of Haiwaku village. He and his daughter, Edna Leki, made Zuni fetish pots covered in tiny turquoise chips and nuggets.

Collected by Proctor Stafford, a Los Angeles collector of the ancient art of
Mexico since the late 1940s through the '50s. He was the first American
collecting Pre-Columbian art down in Mexico. He collected in conjunction
with the artists Diego Rivera, Frida Kahlo, Wolfgang Paalen and William
Spratling, among other luminaries of the day. He passed away in 1997. The
Proctor Stafford Collection at LACMA is arguably the world's best
collection of ancient West Mexican art. He also collected Northwest
Coast and Southwestern U.S. tribal art, in addition to Southwestern
silver & turquoise jewelry. He may have bought the fetishes from Larry
Frank, but we have no written proof of that, only spoken memories of
people he bought from in Arizona and New Mexico and the Santa Fe scene
of the '60s & '70s.