Vintage Zuni Wolf Fetish By Florentino Martinez and Harriet Byers Martinez

Collectors are called by rare pieces. This is a really special little vintage wolf fetish because of its rarity. It's hand carved by respected Zuni artist Florentino Martinez and his late ex-wife Harriet Byers Martinez. You don't find a lot of their joint carvings, but it seems they created at least a few of these wolves. These days Florentino's fetishes are very detailed, highly prized and many hundreds of dollars.

This precious wolf is graceful with the gentle curves in his body carved of brown and gray picasso marble to resemble variations in his fur. He carries a single turquoise arrowhead in his medicine bundle and his piercing turquoise eyes are inlaid.

As a wolf, he guards the East which is one of the six cardinal Zuni directions. He also represents loyalty to family or clan and wisdom. 

When you study him closely, it's impossible not to be captivated with how much spirit has been given to one tiny stone animal. Perhaps it's because at least four hands lovingly worked to give him life.

He measures 1 1/4" long x 5/8" high and 1/2" wide, and he's signed on the bottom "HBM" and "FM". In fact, there's what appears to be additional initials ending with an "M" under the wolf's jaw. Perhaps it was also created by one Harriet and Florentino's five children.

Provenance: This darling wolf comes 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.

She never had children, but she collected quite a few corn maiden fetish figures showing her appreciation of the divine feminine.

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.