We have been fortunate to have been the stewards of some of the select few of Niviaqsi’s carved works, including several from the Prices’ collection in recent sales [1]. His sculptural output truly highlighted his particular eye for form and detail in stone, despite his skills as a master printer monopolizing his artistic creations, and this work is no exception. A Chain of Care shows a beautiful mix of positive and negative space, as well as the impossibly slender features carved in stone that help define any carving by Niviaqsi. As the child in front flops against their mother’s grasp (a feeling we can only imagine brings a knowing nod from parents everywhere), her braids are being carefully pulled out of her hood and away from grabbing hands.

There is a tenderness throughout the work that is one of Niviaqsi’s specialties, a softness that contradicts the hard stone that is portraying it.

Niviaqsi had a lifelong penchant for using his own wife, Sita, and their children as the subject matter of his artworks, and as with other works, we can’t help but wonder if they are here again in this work, smiling out into the world.

1. See First Arts, 4 December 2023, Lot 70; 12 June 2023, Lot 131; 5 December 2022, Lot 29 for some fine examples.

AC