An Effigy Revisted

[Charl]

I've shown this many times, thinking it was a turtle effigy or maybe a fertility fetish. I display it just as the auction did. But the auction described it as a frog, which I never understood. Until last night, when a friend saw it for the first time and said: "hey, this IS a frog!!". What were the eyes of the turtle is the nostrils of the frog, and the unexplained round lumps at the base of the turtle's head are in fact the raised eyes of a frog!! And what was a recess behind the turtle's head is actually the underside of the frog's chin. And his front legs are in the position where they are poised to hop!! 5 years it took to see the frog, though a case might be made that it could be viewed from two different perspectives, making it a dual effigy. First, here is how I used to look at it. Then I will post photos of the "correct"(?) perspective.

 

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[Charl]

Original pose: turtle, fertility figure, gorged tick. New pose: frog/toad, ram, hippo. And one other choice: meant to be looked at both original AND new pose, whatever is seen.

I'm easy, it's in the interpretive eye of the beholder. So, personally, I like frog best. I can see the ram, but their eyes are toward the side of the head, not raised up on top of head. Look at the shape of the "horn" and it's also the shape of a forearm in hopping position. I think frog/toad would be the closest to a critter in the native's environment whenever it was fashioned. I know a bit more about the circumstances of the find in 1936. Hippo would make it modern made and it's not modern made. But bottom line, different strokes for different folks in interpreting.

 

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