MMA 1979.206.1129

118

1979.206.1129

7/26/2023

Tiffin, Seneca County, Ohio. Acquired by Nelson A. Rockefeller in 1964 from George Terasaki, New York. On loan to the Museum of Primitive Art, New York from 1964-1978. Since 1979 in The Michael C. Rockefeller Memorial Collection, Bequest of Nelson A. Rockefeller.

Greenish black, with off-white inclusions

15.2

7

1.1

1.6

0.2

121.59

The matte greenish black phyllite stone of this Single-Notched Butterfly bannerstone has fine, barely perceptible dark banding and cloudy off-white inclusions that would have drawn the attention of an Archaic sculpture who carved the symmetrical flanges into thin wings that are slightly bowed. The sculptor accentuated the center with a pointed ridge parallel to where they drilled a hole for hafting onto a shaft. The flanges of this bannerstone are exceedingly thin and difficult to achieve, testament to the experience and aesthetic sensibility of the sculptor. There are chips along the edges and perforation, signs of use in the Archaic period. On the inner side of the notch 1979.206.1129 is written in red. On one side of the stone Tiffin, Ohio is written in white, referring to a city in Seneca County where this bannerstone was presumably found and first collected in the 19th or early 20th Century.

6000-1000 BCE

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