DAVID A. BOXLEY (1952-) TSIMSHIAN, ALASKA / WASHINGTON
titled, signed and dated, "Killerwhale Crest / David Boxley / Metlakatla, Alaska."
ESTIMATE: $3,500 — $5,000
Further images
The present work is a dynamic killer whale crest sculpture rooted in Tsimshian visual tradition and ceremonial design. Raised by his grandparents in Metlakatla, Alaska, David A. Boxley has devoted over forty years to the revitalization of Alaskan Tsimshian culture. This early carving is based on a Tlingit box drum finial from Yakutat, Alaska. It is adorned with human hair along the back edge and inlaid operculum shell at the front of the dorsal fin. The sculpture depicts an anthropomorphic killer whale within a dorsal fin, carved in low relief and painted in red, black, and blue/green pigments.
Sarah Raven with Christopher W. Smith
References: See Frederica De Laguna’s Under Mount Saint Elias: The History and Culture of the Yakutat Tlingit, Vol. 3 (Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1972), pages 1060 and 1061. Also, Haida Myths Illustrated in Argillite Carvings, (Ottawa: Department of Northern Affairs and Natural Resources, National Museum of Canada, 1953), page 263.
Provenance
A Vancouver Collection.Join Our Mailing List
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