Initialed J.J.W. to lower edge, hand-colored designs to sides; included with the lot is a publication by Jamake Highwater, titled The Sweet Grass Lives On, surveying fifty contemporary North American Indian artists.

17 1/2 x 8 1/2 in.

Private Collection, Pinehurst, North Carolina

Wilnoty is a self taught Cherokee artist, primarily known for his carved sculptures. His work has been included in many exhibitions, including the Smithsonian Institution. He had his first solo show in 1971 at the Qualla Arts and Crafts Mutual, where he displayed twenty-one sculptures on loan from the Indian Arts and Crafts Board, Qualla Arts and Crafts Mutual, Burgess Indian Museum, and the Medicine Man Craft Shop. The show was organized by the Indian Arts and Crafts Board, an agency within the Department of the Interior. In 1972 he had a second solo exhibit at the Norton Simon Museum (formerly the Pasadena Art Museum) in Pasadena, California, which included twenty-five soapstone pieces from a private collection in San Jose. The Smithsonian Collection holds eleven of Wilnoty’s pieces in their permanent collection.

Some staining to sides and fading to colored decoration.