Vintage Zuni Bear Fetishes Mama and Baby

Here's a pair of vintage hand carved Zuni bear fetishes. Together the colorful fetish carvings look like mama and baby though they're likely made by different Zuni artists.

Mama bear is beautiful with her marbled pink and cream pastel colors emanating from her watermelon serpentine stone. Her eyes are inlaid turquoise. She carries a turquoise offering bundle on her back which provides healing, protection and strengthening of prayers. Her fat little baby bear is carved of marbled blue and green azurite stone, and though it's heavy, baby also carries a black jet offering bundle.

Bear fetishes like mama and baby here are guardians of the West and they're associated with strength, courage and healing just as you might expect.

Zuni People use fetishes in ceremonies because they represent the powerful spirit of the carved animal. These mama and baby fetishes, though, are not ceremonial. They're made for you - you can use them as your own special totems, or you can simply display them on a shelf to bring you joy every time you pass by. You can also gift them to a human mama as a much more meaningful presentation than anything you'd find at a department store.

These two precious animal fetishes come from the collection of a beautiful woman who grew up in Germany during World War II. Post war, she moved to the United States and became a model in New York City. She eventually married, left her modeling career, and moved to El Paso with her husband. In El Paso, she first experienced the charm of Native American art and jewelry. 

Many years later, she attended her first of several celebrated Native American art field trips hosted by Martha Struever. During this time, she expanded her collection of Native American art and jewelry. Her collection wasn't vast, but it was extremely meaningful to her.

After a long and full life, this dear woman recently passed away. She knew that her collection which she lovingly called her "treasures" was to be handled by Turquoise & Tufa, and she expressed her wishes that these dear fetishes would bring as much joy to us as they did to her. 

Measurements: Mama bear measures 1 3/4" long x 1" high. She's signed on the bottom with "A".

Baby bear measures 1" long x 7/8" high. It does not look like baby bear has a signature.

They're being sold together as a pair because they've lived together now for years. Plus, they look fantastic together - they're a similar carving shape and both have a single arrowhead medicine bundle.