First Nations / Canada, British Columbia, Queen Charlotte Islands, Haida Gwaii, Haida people, ca. 19th century CE. An early and quite interesting argillite totem from coastal Vancouver Island. Carved in three registers with owl sitting upon top with wide eyes comprised from inlaid shell. He is sitting upon a wolf, also with shell eyes. Finally, the base is composed of a beaver, its tail draped over the front of the totem. The reverse is incised with simple designs of whale, bird's eye and zoomorphic head with large eye and toothy grin, all contained inside a cartouche-like border. Size: 2.5" W x 7.75" H (6.4 cm x 19.7 cm)
Argillite is a fine grained sedimentary rock that is essentially made of hardened mud and ooze; it often has a smooth 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.
This item has been tested using XRF technology and has been shown to be composed of argellite.
Provenance: Private Chapel Hill, North Carolina, USA collection; ex-George Schaffer collection, Washington, USA, acquired in the late 1800s
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#182296
Condition
Expected scuffs to surface as anticipated for an object of somewhat soft stone after 140 years.