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A Denise Wallace "Fetish Necklace" image 1
A Denise Wallace "Fetish Necklace" image 2
Property of Another Collector
Lot 84P,Y

A Denise Wallace "Fetish Necklace"

1 May 2020, 10:00 PDT
Los Angeles

US$30,000 - US$40,000

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Denise Wallace

Chugach Aleut, (b. 1957), "Fetish Necklace," designed suspending seven stylized figures, 1992, apparently a unique example, sterling silver, fossil ivory, and 14K gold.
maximum necklace length 15 1/2in, central pendant length 3 1/4in

Footnotes

Provenance
Per the collector, purchased directly from the artist

Illustrated
Dubin, Lois Sherr, Arctic Transformations: The Jewelry of Denise & Samuel Wallace, Easton Studio Press/Theodore Dubin Foundation, New York, NY, 2005, p. 199, fig. 207

The "Fetish Necklace" illustrates the artist's focus on transformation: each figure is detachable, so the wearer can add or subtract length from the necklace as they see fit. Furthermore, each fetish can be worn on its own as a pin or pendant.

For the present piece, Wallace took her inspiration from 19th century Inuit carved ivory fetishes of human figures: "Some of the carvings are full body figures, whereas others are simply a stump of a body with no arms. These older fetish pieces might be used as part of a doll or to bring blessings" (Dubin p. 199)

Additional information

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