Lot 25
Unidentified Haida or Tlingit Artist
Additional Images
Provenance:
Private Collection, Vancouver, BC
Note:
Surviving pairs of full-scale Northwest Coast paddles are uncommon. A necessary and practical implement of propulsion for watercraft, they were subject to deterioration accelerated by light and moisture inherent to their environment.
While conceived as objects of utility, their forms are highly sculptural, and examples sometimes exhibit elaborate decoration. The aesthetic quality of paddles was not lost on 19th century audiences, and miniature examples were made for use in ceremony and as souvenirs for Euro-American visitors to the Coast.
The present pair exhibits wear and checking suggestive of age. Designs on the paddles are executed using traditional pigments, and are reenforced with later incised line-work.