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Lot 118
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Native American Woodlands Quartz Human Effigy Abraders, Pair
Native American Woodlands Quartz Human Effigy Abraders, Pair
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Native American, Woodlands, ca. 1000–1500 CE. A pair of carved quartz effigies rendered in the spare, anthropomorphic vocabulary of the Eastern Woodlands. The larger figure presents a fully realized standing body: rounded shoulders taper into a softly modeled torso, with arms held close and legs faintly demarcated, the surface worn smooth from long handling or use as an abrader. The smaller fragment preserves only the head and upper shoulders, the face animated by two drilled circular eyes and a suggested brow, the cranial dome polished to a satiny finish.

Quartz, hard and stubborn under stone tools, was a deliberate choice. Its translucency and ability to spark under percussion gave it talismanic weight among Woodlands peoples, and small effigy forms in the material often served dual lives as ritual abraders or charms, ground against bone, antler, or shell to shape and finish other implements. The reduction of human anatomy to essential volumes, broad head, columnar body, abbreviated limbs, links these pieces to a long tradition of figural shorthand in Eastern North America, where the body's presence mattered more than its particulars.

Whether carried as personal protectives, deposited as offerings, or worked into the daily rhythm of toolmaking, such effigies blur the line between the utilitarian and the sacred. Their quiet authority lies in that ambiguity. Size of larger: 1.2" W x 3.5" H (3.0 cm W x 8.9 cm H).

Provenance: private Colorado, USA Collection; ex-private Denver, Colorado, USA collection; ex-private Flushing, New York and Ridgeway, Colorado, USA collection, acquired in 2019

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Item # 203053

  • Condition: Damaged. Figure is missing proper left leg. More petite figure is fragmentary. Light surface wear with liberal remaining detail throughout.

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by Artemis Fine Arts
June 25, 2026 9:00 AM MDT
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Louisville, CO, US 80027

Artemis Fine Arts

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Bid Increments
From: To: Increments:
$0 $299 $25
$300 $999 $50
$1,000 $1,999 $100
$2,000 $4,999 $250
$5,000 $9,999 $500
$10,000 $19,999 $1,000
$20,000 $49,999 $2,500
$50,000 $99,999 $5,000
$100,000 $199,999 $10,000
$200,000 + $20,000