A superb Tlingit horn and walrus ivory spoon

FIRST HALF OF 19TH CENTURY

细节

A superb Tlingit horn and walrus ivory spoon
first half of 19th century
The walrus-tooth handle finely carved as a human figure crouched within the jaws of a bear surmounted by a seated avian figure with a frog whose head is carved between the bear's ears, the finial as a seated chiefly figure with a beaver's head, the human hands held beneath the chin, the eyes and other features with haliotis-shell inlay, the shallow mountain-sheep-horn bowl with graceful curve and moulded spine, held by two copper rivets, creamy to honey-coloured patina
11¾in. (30cm.) long

拍品专文

A recognisably prestigious object, this superb spoon is unlikely to have been made for direct use, but rather as a gift to be presented at feasts (potlatches), when chiefs would seek to impress their guests by an abundance of food, entertainment and presentations. There appears to be no reference to the making or use of spoons in the early literature on the Northwest Coast, but by inference such a spoon would have been commissioned for presentation and then admired for its superb workmanship, much as we admire it today.

The only other spoon made from this combination of materials that we can find in the literature is in the Robert and Lisa Sainsbury collection at the University of East Anglia (Sainsbury, 1978, fig. 280), which the Sainsburys acquired in 1958 from John Hewett and Herbert Rieser, but without any previously recorded provenance.