BOULDER, COLO.- Artemis Fine Arts will bring together Native American art, Pre-Columbian antiquities, African and Oceanic sculpture, Asian devotional objects and works from the ancient Mediterranean in its "Native American | Ethnographic | Ancient Art" auction on October 14.

The wide-ranging sale reflects the Colorado auction house's specialty in objects that cross traditional collecting categories, moving from archaeological material and tribal art to Asian sculpture, textiles, jewelry and historical artifacts.



Among the leading works is a monumental 19th-century Dogon Togu Na support post from Mali, estimated at $12,000-$18,000. Carved from a single forked timber and measuring 92 inches high on its stand, the architectural sculpture once supported the low roof of a Dogon men's assembly house, or togu na. The work was published in the 1977 volume "Togu Na: The African Dogon — House of Men, House of Words."



Another striking sculptural lot comes from 19th-century Mexico. A large Spanish Colonial wood saint with two bullets still lodged in its torso carries an estimate of $7,500-$11,000. The 43-inch figure, probably representing the Virgin, has lost its original polychrome surface but retains the weathering, impact marks and embedded projectiles that connect the devotional sculpture with Mexico's turbulent 19th-century history.



Asian material is led by an 18th-century Chinese carved wood Daoist deity finished in oxblood lacquer, estimated at $6,000-$9,000. Dating to the Qing Dynasty, the seated figure wears a high ceremonial hat and formal robes and holds a ritual attribute. Such sculptures were made for temples and household shrines, where images of Daoist masters and deities formed part of an elaborate spiritual hierarchy.



Among the ancient objects is a Roman glass intaglio depicting a laureate emperor, now mounted in an 18-karat gold ring. Dating from approximately 27 BCE to 200 CE, the engraved oval glass gem is estimated at $4,000-$6,000, combining an ancient miniature portrait with a modern wearable setting.



Pre-Columbian art forms a substantial part of the auction. A particularly evocative object is a Teotihuacan stone vessel carved with the face of the rain god Tlaloc, estimated at $4,000-$6,000. Dating from approximately 150-650 CE, the volcanic-stone vessel incorporates the deity's characteristic goggle eyes, broad nasal element and fanged mouth. Traces of burning at the opening suggest that the object may have functioned as an incensario in rituals involving copal and petitions for rain and agricultural renewal.



Textile traditions are represented by an elaborate Paracas / Proto-Nazca figural fringe from Peru, estimated at $3,600-$5,400. Dating to around 500-300 BCE, the 53-inch-long textile border is worked in camelid fiber and incorporates miniature human heads and legs in a palette that includes crimson, maroon, aqua, sage and cream.



From the American Southwest comes an early 20th-century Navajo Germantown "Eye Dazzler" blanket, estimated at $4,000-$6,000. Woven in commercially spun and aniline-dyed Germantown wool, the textile is organized around concentric serrated diamonds, zigzag forms and smaller stepped motifs in saturated reds, golds, greens, maroon and cream. The bold optical patterning became one of the most immediately recognizable developments in Navajo weaving around the turn of the century.

Oceanic art is highlighted by a Maori god stick, or whakapakoko rākau, from New Zealand, estimated at $4,000-$6,000. Dating broadly from the mid-19th to mid-20th century, the carved wooden object belongs to a class of ritual figures associated with ancestral and spiritual presence in Maori culture.

Taken together, the sale moves across an unusually broad cultural landscape: from Mesoamerican ritual vessels and Andean textiles to Native American weaving, African architectural sculpture, Chinese religious imagery and Roman engraved gems. The catalogue also includes Egyptian, Greek, Near Eastern and Southeast Asian antiquities, fossils, historical arms, decorative arts and works of fine art.

The auction is curated by Bob Dodge and will take place online through LiveAuctioneers on October 14, beginning at 11 a.m. EDT from Louisville, Colorado.