As mentioned in Lot 1, Eli Tait was a prolific Tsimshian carver best known for model poles and feast dishes. Born in Old Metlakatla, British Columbia, he moved with Reverend William Duncan’s followers to New Metlakatla, Alaska, in 1887. Arthritis kept him from the fishing and timber industries, and carving became his livelihood. Tait was also among the earliest Northwest Coast Indigenous artists to sign his work with regularity, leaving a substantial and unusually well documented body of carvings.

Here, a grouse sits squarely at the summit, above Raven and a broad seated bear. Tait gives each creature its own surface and character. The grouse is patterned with speckled plumage and bright yellow touches. Raven is heavier and darker, its large turquoise-ringed eye commanding the centre of the pole. Set into Raven’s belly is a small frog-like face, a curious secondary presence compressed into the larger form. At the base, the bear sits solidly, its body scored with dense incised lines that suggest coarse fur.

The figures are stacked closely, almost pressed into one another, and the painted reds, greens, yellows, turquoise, and black sharpen their separation while keeping the sculpture visually compact. The effect is dense, playful, and slightly strange, especially where one creature seems to contain another.

The pairing of Grouse and Raven may recall the Tsimshian narrative of Raven and the Grouse Prince, though the exact subject of the pole cannot be fixed with certainty. The seated bear may belong to the same episode or may instead introduce a separate crest figure, while the frog-like face on Raven’s belly adds still another small and intriguing presence to the composition.