UNIDENTIFIED TLINGIT ARTIST
Model Canoe Paddle, c. 1880
yellow cedar and paint, 37.25 x 1.25 x 4.75 in (94.6 x 3.2 x 12.1 cm)

ESTIMATE: $2,500 — $3,500

Provenance
A Vancouver Collection.

Proportionally correct and looking in photographs as if it’s full size, this painted and carved paddle is a model, made to about one-half scale. The thickest part of the paddle is at the grip, just above the shoulders at the top of the blade. The handle becomes thinner as it gets wider, thinning down to where it meets the top grip. This gives a paddle in this form a contour something like a bow, able to bend slightly in length to give some extra snap to each stroke of the blade.

The painted designs appear to represent the head and tail of a whale, one of them on each side of the paddle. One side shows the head with its toothy mouth, a narrow pectoral fin, an ovoid and U-shape designs without the resolution of a tail. That appears on the other side of the paddle, where U-shape designs and an ovoid form with an eye taper the body down to where it meets the greater width of the tail, composed of an ovoid and U-shape. This may be a unique composition and it works well in this example.

Steven C. Brown