Here another active group of figures (see lot 15) is frozen in time and mounted on a flat pedestal base: an aggressive bear and two humans, one armed and acting in defense, the other on the ground a victim of the bear’s wrath. The seated human figure wears a semi-conical spruce root hat of traditional form and holds a dagger in his right hand and what appears to be a club, inverted, in his left. The bear is crouched over the horizontal human, with its forepaws raised in an aggressive display of strength. The human victim below has its right hand grasping the right hind leg of the bear. The texture of the bear’s fur is represented by rows of small nicks carved into the surface of the bear’s body.

The artist has created a visually active, dynamic composition of the images, featuring a good deal of piercing and high relief between the figures, signs of a skilled and practiced carver. The rectangular base provides a solid foundation for the figures and a stable platform for the sculpture.

Steven C. Brown

References: For Haida figural groups with similar bear and human imagery see Leslie Drew and Douglas Wilson, Argillite: Art of the Haida, (Vancouver: Hancock House, 1980), pp. 141, 195-198; Peter L. Macnair and Alan L. Hoover, The Magic Leaves: A History of Haida Argillite Carving, (Royal BC Museum, 1984/2002), figs. 158-164; and Carol Sheehan, Pipes that won’t Smoke; Coal that won’t Burn: Haida Sculpture in Argillite, (Calgary: Glenbow Museum, 1981), cats. 76-81.