This bracelet blends abstraction and formal Haida designs, depicting a Hummingbird with the head folded back to cross over the body, and wings that form the centre design. The fluid design, deep cuts, and dense cross-hatching are all formal Haida elements executed by a modern master of the art form. The cross-hatching is a rarefied skill in hand-carved jewellery, with the standard set by Charles Edenshaw who noted that the pattern was based on the underside of Skunk Cabbage leaves which grow in abundance in Haida Gwaii. The rendering of precise cross-hatching is practiced by most Haida artists. By the early 1970s, Robert Davidson was considered one of the most innovative and technically proficient Northwest Coast jewellery artists with a growing demand for private, cultural, and gallery commissions. This bracelet was carved in 1976 after he had established his studio in Whonnack, a rural community east of Vancouver. His son Benjamin was born that year, and he was starting a shift towards monumental wood commissions that would greatly reduce his jewellery production. The demand would remain high throughout his career, however, and every few years Davidson would set aside a small window of time to reacquaint his hands to the tools and answer to a limited number of commissions for clients, chiefs, elders, and family.

Gary Wyatt

References: For a gold bracelet by the artist from 1990, and an overview of the artist’s work and career up to 1993, see Ian M. Thom, editor, Robert Davidson: Eagle of the Dawn, (Vancouver: Vancouver Art Gallery/Douglas & McIntyre, 1993), pp. 140; for examples in silver from various years see pp. 42, 46, 50, 62, 76, 77.