Turtle Effigy
Attributed to
Alfred Kiyana
(North American Indian, Meskwakie, 1877 - 1918)
Dateca. 1912
MediumWood (walnut), native leather, feather, bird bone whistle, and root
DimensionsA: 20 3/4 × 5 1/2 × 2 5/8 inches (52.71 × 13.97 × 6.68 cm)
B: 3 1/2 inches (8.89 cm)
B: 3 1/2 inches (8.89 cm)
Credit LineLent by the St. Joseph Museums, Inc.
Object number23.2008.4.A,B
On View
Not on viewGallery Location
Gallery Label- 208
This powerful carving was made by a Mesquakie artist to replicate a sacred object never intended for public display. It represents both a snapping turtle and manitou, or supernatural being, one of the underwater powers inhabiting the Mesquakie cosmos. The object is one of a small number of works created to assist an anthropologist who was studying Mesquakie mythology, religion and material culture. It provided the scholar, and now the outside world, with a view into a sacred realm. The original object is revealed only to appropriate tribal members during ritual use.
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