An Important Haida Argillite And Walrus Ivory Figure Of A Maritime Officer

in two sections, in the form of a male figure standing on a beveled rectangular base and holding his hands in his pockets, clad in the uniform of a European sea captain, composed of clog-like shoes, trousers with button-front and stitching down each leg, long-tailed coat with two rows of buttons in low relief on the front and a high, layered collar, his finely carved head, with elaborate coiffure, inserted by a conical dowel, with a bone plaque inset for the face, with small grooved mouth flanked by "laugh-lines," short nose and eyes beneath typical stylized arched brows, surmounted by a tasseled beret.

Acquired in the mid-Nineteenth Century by Simpson P. Moses, a U.S. Customs agent appointed by President Fillmore to Port Townsend, WA in May 1851

 

By family descent to the present owner

In 1989, Sotheby’s offered a comparable example of a Haida “Sea Captain.” At that time, the following essay by Dr. Bill Holm appeared in the catalogue: “Small sculptured figures and other objects of the soft, black stone called argillite were among the works of Haida Indian artists that were made specifically for sale to Euro-American visitors to the Northwest Coast, beginning in the 1820s. Before that, the stone, an argillaceous shale ranging in color from grey to deep black with occasional occurrences of dark red or purple, was seldom used by the Haida, although a very few simple amulets seem to predate the beginning of argillite tourist art. Very early in that period Europeans became the subject of much of the argillite artists’ output, and by the 1840s a favorite motif was the “Sea Captain” figure. Several such figures are thought to have been acquired from Hudson Bay Company personnel in 1841 by the United States Exploring Expedition under Lt. Charles Wilkes (Viola and Margolis 1985:4). Most Sea Captain figures lack documentation and can only be roughly dated on the basis of their style and their similarity to those that have reliable collection data.

Early nineteenth century Euro-American visitors to the coast – mostly fur traders and explorers – eagerly bought souvenirs to bring home to England, Russia, Spain and New England. The earliest of these souvenirs were objects of everyday or ceremonial use to the Native people, who soon recognized the market and began to produce material specifically for sale to the foreign visitors. Haida carvers, who were familiar with the easily carved, glossy black argillite found only in their homeland, the Queen Charlotte Islands, realized its potential for this market and began, sometime in the 1820’s, to carve elaborate pipes with traditional motifs to sell to the seamen and traders. Perhaps at the suggestion of the buyers, the carvers soon began to depict the exotic foreigners themselves. These carvings took the form of convoluted figural compositions on thin, flat slabs of argillite, drilled like pipes but often not practical for smoking, and fully sculptured, usually standing, figures. The most frequently depicted were men in uniform-like dress standing solidly on spread legs with hands on hips or thrust in pockets. Because these figures usually wear what appears to be naval uniforms and often caps they have come to be called “Sea Captain figures.”

All the characteristics of a typical Sea Captain figure are seen in this example. Facing square to the front, with legs spread and hands in pockets, the little captain is in full command. His stiff-soled shoes, toes slightly turned up, illustrate the early Haida artist’s interest in this exotic piece of apparel. Most argillite representations of Europeans and Euro-Americans emphasized those sturdy shoes. Haida carvers took advantage of argillite’s fine grain and carveability to depict the details of dress that characterized the visitors. The long coat held open by the hands-in pockets stance is typical of the figures, as are the rows of buttons and details of collar and cuffs. A naval cap, complete with bill, piping pompon, tops the captain’s white bone face and curly argillite hair and mutonchop whiskers. The face is expertly and naturalistically carved, with long, narrow nose, prominent chin and tight-lipped smile – all typical of Haida artistic conventions for a European face. The head and cap are made separately from the rest of the figure, a not uncommon feature of Sea Captain figures. The cap sits at a very slight angle, lending a slightly jaunty air to the otherwise imposing figure.

Stylistically this figure resembles most closely a somewhat more elaborate one in the collection of the Denver Art Museum (Conn 1979: fig. 446) and formerly in the Peabody Museum, Harvard University. It was acquired by the Peabody Museum in 1894-6 without documentation. A number of Captain figures, as well as Caucasians represented on panel pipes, have bone faces, to emphasize the paleness of their subjects’ skin in contrast to those of the Indians. At least one (Holm 1983: fig. 446), collected by the explorer Frederick Whymper in 1869, has a face of a whitish stone, and several others (Vaughn and Holm 1982: figs. 111, 113) have faces of dark red argillite.

There are other mid-nineteenth century argillite carvings of Europeans other than “Sea Captains.” Some of these are seated figures, several reading books, and quite a few are women dressed in elaborate min-century fashion. At least some of these might represent Native women in European dress (Wright 1986:40, fig. 10). The best known and perhaps most impressive of Haida artists’ impressions of their early nineteenth century visitors remain however the impassive “Captains,” legs braced as on deck, surveying the Haida world."