Fired mud sheep toy, painted black with white painted eye and nostril dots. Feet are slit on the underside. Animal is enveloped in natural colored, unspun, carded wool fiber ('Roving') giving genuine appearance of sheep's coat, with green tinge on right side.
Donor:
Frances J. Fischer, Margot Blum Schevill, and University Appropriation
Collection place:
Shonto, Navajo County, Arizona
Verbatim coll. place:
Arizona; Navajo; Shonto
Culture or time period:
Navajo
Maker or artist:
Elsie Benally [Navajo]
Collector:
Frances J. Fischer and Margot Blum Schevill
Collection date:
July 1992
Object type:
ethnography
Function:
5.7 Objects made for sale, souvenirs, models, and reproductions
Context of use:
Made for tourist trade.
Department:
Native US and Canada (except California)
Dimensions:
length 8.65 centimeters, height 6.59 centimeters, and width 5.03 centimeters
Comment:
Purchased...at cost of $12. References: Kluckholm, Hill and Kluckholm, Traditional Navajo Material Culture, pp. 402-04. c.f. Anii Anaadaalyaa'' Igii, (Recent Ones That Are Made): Continuity and Innovation in Recent Navajo Art. Catalogue of an exhibition at the Wheelwright Museum of the American Indian, Santa Fe, New Mexico. July 10-Oct. 30, 1988. p. 14 for similar toys by Mamie Deschillie.