Lot 16
Unidentified Haida Artist
Additional Images
Provenance:
Private Collection, Vancouver, BC
Note:
Argillite pipes are perhaps among the first objects made by Haida carvers exclusively for trade to Euro-American visitors to the Coast. Transcultural objects, examples such as the present pipe, integrate the sensibilities of both the maker and prospective client. The successful integration of traditional and novel influences into an aesthetically pleasing whole is suggestive of the adaptiveness of 19th century Haida argillite carvers.
The subject of the embellishment and style of figuration on the present example is essentially traditional, contrasting with the form of the pipe, and relative placement and configuration of the figures, which seems to reflect the influence of Euro-American clay and meerschaum pipes of the 19th century.