Bidspirit auction | Navajo Yeibechai Sand Painting by

Navajo Yeibechai Sand Painting by Bennie Yazzie and Paul Begay - This lot features a large, horizontally oriented Navajo sand painting depicting the Yeibechai, or Night Chant, ceremonial dance. The work is composed of natural colored sandstone on board and illustrates six figures in traditional ritual attire, including green masks, feathers, and geometric-patterned kilts, performing a dance against a desert backdrop of mesas and stylized clouds. A printed label on the front attributes the design to Paul Begay (presumably the retailer), while a handwritten label on the reverse identifies the artist as Bennie Yazzie of Lupton, Arizona. The reverse label further identifies the subject as the Yeibechai, a winter curing ceremony performed to cure patients of nervousness or insanity. The piece is housed in a dark-stained wooden frame with a wire for hanging. measures 58” x 18”