**First Time At Auction**

First Nations, Pacific Northwest Coast, Canada, British Columbia, Vancouver Island, Haida people, ca. late 19th to early 20th century CE. A beautiful and early example of a hand-carved argillite statue of totemic animals seated in a boat. At the stern is an eagle, next is a bearded human, a wolf or bear, and a frog at the front. The boat has a whale headed stern and prow, the heads of all animals are inlaid with nacre disc eyes. The underside has an antique label and handwritten "NWC Bird, Beast, Wolf, + Frog, 3CTEB Vancouver Island B.C." Carvings often illustrate traditional stories of Haida culture; the exact meaning of this sculpture is unknown but may be a scene from a creation story or Raven Tales. Size: 10" L x 2" W x 3.5" H (25.4 cm x 5.1 cm x 8.9 cm)

Argillite is a fine grained sedimentary rock that is essentially made of mud and ooze; it often has a smooth and lustrous appearance like this example. In the 19th century, the Haida people began to carve this material as a trade good for visiting Europeans and Americans, because of the decline of their traditional economic practice of fishing. Items like this one served as a way to show their artistic merit and introduce some of their iconography to the outside world, and carvers in the 19th to early 20th century did not sign their works.

Provenance: private Chapel Hill, North Carolina, USA collection

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#178000

Surface wear, nicks and chips, otherwise intact without repairs. Abrasions and chips to nacre shell inlays. Old label on base, otherwise unsigned.