Zuni Carved Picasso Marble Bear Fetish, Coral & Black Matrix

A small-scale Zuni stone fetish carving of a bear — the most sacred and powerful animal in Zuni tradition, associated with healing and the West cardinal direction. The form is highly abstracted: four stubbed legs, a pronounced shoulder hump, and a rounded, forward-thrusting head, worked from a single piece of dramatically patterned Picasso marble. One face reads as a deep black matrix laced with cream veining and dense cellular figure; the opposite face erupts with rust-to-coral red orbicular inclusions, giving the piece a striking bi-zonal character.

Zuni fetish carving is a living tradition rooted in Pueblo ceremonial practice, with commercial production expanding through the 1970s onward — and the bear remains the most collected of all fetish forms. Zuni Pueblo sits in western New Mexico near Gallup, making this a locally relevant carving for the southern New Mexico market. Compact and solid in the hand at just over 84 grams, it works equally as a hand fetish or a display piece. The stone itself is the story here: the interplay of black matrix, cream veining, and coral orbs makes each face read differently.

CONDITION

Good. No remarkable damage. Natural stone patterning, veining, and orbicular inclusions are inherent to the material, not flaws. Surface holds a smooth worked polish throughout.

DIMENSIONS / SPECIFICATIONS

• Overall: 2 9/16" H × 2 7/8" W × 5/8" D (approx.)
• Weight: 84.4 grams
• Material: Picasso marble (naturally patterned metamorphic/igneous stone)
• Origin: Zuni
• Subject: Bear fetish
• Signature/Hallmark: None present
• U.S. Quarter Shown for Scale — Not Included