KACHINA Wood, red clay, pigments. North America,... Lot 27

KACHINA Wood, red clay, pigments. North America, United States, New Mexico, Pueblo culture. Old patina, slight restorations to the pictorial layer, base added. H : 40.5 cm First half of the 20th century. Provenance and geographical origin according to the owner: Taos, acquired in the 1970s. This extraordinary unidentified kachina presents a helmet mask with a large crenellated three-step tabletta, decorated with a rainbow from which a flash of lightning shoots towards the sky, framed by two flowering symbols. The eyes are two geometric spirals. The body carries the arms along the torso. A painted necklace falls on the chest. The kilt is painted with a rectangular storm cloud motif, throwing three lightning bolts towards the ground. The legs are separated, also decorated with lightning bolts. The painting technique used is very interesting. The wood, once carved, is coated with a preparatory layer of red clay on which a second white layer (probably made of kaolin) is applied, before the black or yellow decorative lines are applied.