{"product_id":"haida-argillite-model-totem-pole","title":"Haida Argillite Model Totem Pole","description":"\u003cp\u003e Northwest Coast, British Columbia, late 19th to early 20th century AD\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eCarved from a single block of the fine-grained black argillite quarried at Slatechuck Mountain on Haida Gwaii and worked to a lustrous, hand-polished sheen, the composition stacking a crouching bear or sea-wolf at the crown above a hook-beaked raven grasping a spotted dogfish-like creature in its talons, a second broad-browed crest face below with a copper or chief's-seat motif at its chest, and a final dogfish or shark figure with finely incised gill markings and rows of pointed teeth at the base, the reverse left plain in the manner of a relief panel rather than a fully rounded pole. The carving is crisp throughout, with each figure's eyes, brows, and incised body markings rendered in the confident, deep-cut style associated with Skidegate and Masset argillite workshops of the period, and the piece is fitted to its original rectangular ebonized wood plinth. Measuring 10-3\/8 in. in height (26.4 cm), the pole compares closely with model poles by Haida master carvers such as Charles Edenshaw, including the nineteen-inch example in the Seattle Art Museum stacking a bear, eagle, paired human heads, and a bear grasping a seal-like figure, and with the Metropolitan Museum's own Edenshaw-attributed Totem Pole Model (acc. no. 319092), both illustrating the same argillite tradition of condensing monumental crest-pole narratives into a single carved column for sale outside the community beginning in the 1860s. The surface is in excellent condition overall, with only light wear consistent with age and handling and no losses to the projecting beaks or ears.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Art for Eternity","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":53901857489210,"sku":"17805","price":1495.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0775\/5120\/6714\/files\/17805_4df0cad4-a285-4363-bb0e-11f78ea5bd82.jpg?v=1786575708","url":"https:\/\/howardnowes.com\/products\/haida-argillite-model-totem-pole","provider":"Art for Eternity","version":"1.0","type":"link"}