Hopi Ball and Stick Game

1950s hand-carved and brightly painted Hopi ball-and-stick game, a rare example of a traditional children’s toy that also appears in village plaza dances where Hopi clowns playfully chase one another with it. The stick is painted in bold color blocks with black-and-white banding, and the attached leather-wrapped ball is painted in complementary ceremonial colors. Based on the paint palette, rope tie, and construction style, this example is from the 1950s, a period when such toys were still commonly handmade for Hopi children yet surviving examples are scarce today.

From the historic Kopavi Collection.

1” Width, 25” Length