Collection: Nagy

Item Number: NC0051

Category: Doll

Region: Southwest

Tribe: Hopi

Period: 1875-1900 - 1886

Materials: Cottonwood, dyed horse hair, native and commercial pigments, cotton thread

Description: Hilili Kachina. Hilili is a guard used to protect against witchcraft. This kachina was borrowed from the Zuni who had borrowed if from one or more of the Rio Grande tribes, most likely Cochiti. The object on the top of the head represents a sun on the right side and a knife on the left. The knife is from the Great Knife Society. The relationship between the knife and sun has been lost in the transference of the symbol from east to west. According to documentation from Barton Wright, he estimates that Mrs. Mathilda Coxe Evans Stevenson collected this doll in 1886 (Smihsonian Number 113605) and may have been either deaccessed or sold to Victor J. Evans prior to the 1930s who then donated it to the Smithsonian in 1931 (361088).

Dimensions: Height 9 inches

Provenance:

Mathilda Coxe Evans Stevenson
Victor J. Evans

References:

Letter describing this kachina from Barton Wright, dated February 19, 2009

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