Navajo Koshare Kachina Wood Carving Signed Virgil Wood — Goat & Watermelon

In Hopi ceremony, the Koshare is the sacred clown — the conscience of the village disguised as its most outrageous fool. Painted in bold horizontal stripes of terracotta, black, and white, with black circles ringing his eyes and grinning mouth and yarn-tasseled horn braids erupting from his skull cap, he appears during Katsina dances to do everything a Hopi person should not: gorge, boast, grab, and carry on. The watermelon is his prop of choice — a symbol of unchecked appetite — and here he thrusts a dripping slice overhead while a goat rears up beside him, lunging for a share of the spoils. A second watermelon sits at their feet, the dispute still unresolved. It is a scene of pure comic confrontation, and Navajo folk artist Virgil Wood — known for capturing exactly this kind of kinetic mischief in cottonwood — renders it with the loose, expressive energy the subject demands. The figure wears a leather wrap skirt and red moccasins; the natural oval cottonwood slab base roots the whole chaotic moment to earth.

Virgil Wood's work is well documented in the Southwest folk art market, produced with the assistance of his wife Bertha Wood, whose hand is evident in the leather elements. The base is signed "V Wood" in the artist's hand.

CONDITION Excellent — no remarkable damage. Paint is vibrant and fully retained across the figure, accessories, and base. Leather wrap elements are intact.

DIMENSIONS / SPECIFICATIONS

• Height: 7"
• Width: 6"
• Depth: 5"
• Materials: Cottonwood, Leather
• Artist: Virgil Wood (Navajo), signed on base
• Campbell's Soup Can (4" H) Shown for Scale