Tsimshian Wood Feast Bowl

Harry Beasely Collection, Cranmore Museum

Menil Collection, Houston, Texas

Acquired from Sotheby's New York, December 1998, lot 437

Institute for the Arts, Rice University, Houston, 1976; Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney; Art Gallery of South Austrailia, Adelaide; National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne; Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto; Seattle Art Museum; M.H. DeYoung Museum, San Francisco; The Saint Louis Art Museum, 1978.  

Bill Holm and William Reid Form and Freedom: A Dialogue on Northwest Coast Indian Art,. Institute for the Arts, Rice University, Houston, TX, 1975, page 103, cat. No. 33.

 

 

From a written assessment on this piece by Steven C. Brown: "One of the earliest types of wooden food or oil bowls made on the Northwest Coast is that which incorporates a human figure into the sculpture. There are various compositional types among these bowls—some are horizontal, with the human figure reclining, while others are upright, like this example. In each case the underlying image is that of a human figure with a large, open torso that has the appearance of a great, distended stomach. The metaphor is one of wealth and abundance, not of disease or malformation, and the way that wealth is distributed throughout the community by the system of potlatch gifts and feasting.

 

One of, if not the oldest, extant example of this bowl type was recovered at the Ozette archaeological site on the Washington coast, where an ancient mudslide covered parts of five intact pre-historic houses. The slide is estimated to have roared down the hillside between 300 and 500 years ago, encapsulating everything within the houses in anaerobic mud that preserved wood and other perishable materials. That bowl features a reclining human with its knees drawn up and hands at its sides, and its torso in the form of a large, oval bowl cavity. Carved in a very old, archaic style from the southern Northwest Coast, the Ozette bowl nonetheless exemplifies a probable long line of wooden bowls reflecting this central metaphor that have been made along the entire Northwest Coast area, from Washington State to Southeast Alaska. Another related example is illustrated in Out of the Mist: Treasures of the Nuu-chah-nulth Chiefs (page 88). That bowl (now in private hands) is carved of spruce and depicts an upright human figure with its arms and legs wrapped around the bowl. It is carved in an early southern-coast style and had been in a Pacheedaht Native family for generations.

 

The human figure on the subject vessel is not wrapped around the bowl as broadly as the previous example, but its arms and legs nonetheless enfold about one third to one half of the bowl's circumference. This in fact exaggerates the image of the distended belly by making it larger in relation to the rest of the human's body. The front of the bowl, opposite the human figure, is carved with the low-relief image of a bear's head with a short, protruding snout and small ears. This figure most likely depicts the clan emblem of the bowl's original owner. At the rear of the bear's head on each side are faint remnants of painted designs that flow back toward the man's arms and legs. The painted forms appear to represent the bear's clawed foot, done in black formline along the bottom of the bowl, and some less distinct part of the bear's body just above that, not solidly painted by done in fine parallel dashing. These painted forms have worn considerably, perhaps more so because of the saturation of oils in the wood that may have lessened the adhesion of the paint film.

 

The exquisitely carved head of the human figure is done in Tsimshian style, indicated in part by the semi-pyramidal form of the cheekbone structure. The narrow mouth and thin lips are also indicative of Tsimshian sculptural style, as is the lack of a thin, defined eyelid line (of the type that is sometimes painted black) around the eye form.

 

The rich golden brown patina on this bowl indicates its long use as a vessel for holding seal or eulachon oil, both important sources of essential fatty acids in the Native diet. The more darkly colored ends, or the front and back of the bowl, are due to the end-grain of the wood in those areas soaking up the oil more profusely, with the resultant oxidation of the wood becoming darker in those places.

 

The exquisite sculpture of the human head, the finely done relief carving on the human's body and the bear's head, and the uniform thinness of the bowl itself are all indications of an accomplished artist as the maker of this beautiful vessel."

 

Small hairline crack near the base of the vessel that has been filled and in-painted. There is natural seeping that is occurring but also appear to be a light coat of wax that might have been applied.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

From a written assessment of this piece by Steven C. Brown: "One of the earliest types of wooden food or oil bowls made on the Northwest Coast is that which incorporates a human figure into the sculpture. There are various compositional types among these bowls—some are horizontal, with the human figure reclining, while others are upright, like this example. In each case the underlying image is that of a human figure with a large, open torso that has the appearance of a great, distended stomach. The metaphor is one of wealth and abundance, not of disease or malformation, and the way that wealth is distributed throughout the community by the system of potlatch gifts and feasting.

One of, if not the oldest, extant example of this bowl type was recovered at the Ozette archaeological site on the Washington coast, where an ancient mudslide covered parts of five intact pre-historic houses. The slide is estimated to have roared down the hillside between 300 and 500 years ago, encapsulating everything within the houses in anaerobic mud that preserved wood and other perishable materials. That bowl features a reclining human with its knees drawn up and hands at its sides, and its torso in the form of a large, oval bowl cavity. Carved in a very old, archaic style from the southern Northwest Coast, the Ozette bowl nonetheless exemplifies a probable long line of wooden bowls reflecting this central metaphor that have been made along the entire Northwest Coast area, from Washington State to Southeast Alaska. Another related example is illustrated in Out of the Mist: Treasures of the Nuu-chah-nulth Chiefs (page 88). That bowl (now in private hands) is carved of spruce and depicts an upright human figure with its arms and legs wrapped around the bowl. It is carved in an early southern-coast style and had been in a Pacheedaht Native family for generations.

The human figure on the subject vessel is not wrapped around the bowl as broadly as the previous example, but its arms and legs nonetheless enfold about one third to one half of the bowl's circumference. This in fact exaggerates the image of the distended belly by making it larger in relation to the rest of the human's body. The front of the bowl, opposite the human figure, is carved with the low-relief image of a bear's head with a short, protruding snout and small ears. This figure most likely depicts the clan emblem of the bowl's original owner. At the rear of the bear's head on each side are faint remnants of painted designs that flow back toward the man's arms and legs. The painted forms appear to represent the bear's clawed foot, done in black formline along the bottom of the bowl, and some less distinct part of the bear's body just above that, not solidly painted by done in fine parallel dashing. These painted forms have worn considerably, perhaps more so because of the saturation of oils in the wood that may have lessened the adhesion of the paint film.

The exquisitely carved head of the human figure is done in Tsimshian style, indicated in part by the semi-pyramidal form of the cheekbone structure. The narrow mouth and thin lips are also indicative of Tsimshian sculptural style, as is the lack of a thin, defined eyelid line (of the type that is sometimes painted black) around the eye form.

The rich golden brown patina on this bowl indicates its long use as a vessel for holding seal or eulachon oil, both important sources of essential fatty acids in the Native diet. The more darkly colored ends, or the front and back of the bowl, are due to the end-grain of the wood in those areas soaking up the oil more profusely, with the resultant oxidation of the wood becoming darker in those places.

The exquisite sculpture of the human head, the finely done relief carving on the human's body and the bear's head, and the uniform thinness of the bowl itself are all indications of an accomplished artist as the maker of this beautiful vessel."