Attributed to one of the most prolific makers of bent-corner containers on the entire coast, Captain Richard Carpenter, this small jewel of a box must have been made to contain something special. The lid is made in the form used for boxes to be carried outdoors or in canoes, quite a few historical examples of which are identified as tool boxes. The lid fits down over the sides just slightly, but enough to cause rain or ocean spray to trickle down the outside and not creep into the box by capillary action under a typical box lid with a flat top and a rim on the inside of the container. The form of the box may represent the protection afforded to elevate esteem for the value of the contents.

The painted and relief-carved designs that surround the box are composed in the classic Heiltsuk style of Captain Carpenter, incorporating many round ovoids with small, highly eccentric inner ovoids. The artist was one of several nineteenth-century Heiltsuk artists who maintained some of the characteristics employed by earlier generations in that area, leaning toward thinner formlines, wide open negative areas and the use of parallel line dashing in secondary design elements. As small as this box is, the designs are quite complex, and the relief carving reflects the difficulty of working in that scale. The box seems to have experienced a lot of usage in its day, judging by the somewhat roughed-up surface. The blue pigment, known in many cases for being fugitive in terms of longevity, is rather complete and visible here, and may have been repainted at some point.

The designs are hard to identify with certainty, but there seem to be birds and sea creatures represented on the four sides, their specific identities being too abstract to pin down without inside information from the original owner.

Steven C. Brown

References: For a spectacular and rare blanket box by the artist see First Arts Auctions, December 2020, Lot 44. For an extensive discussion of the artist and his work (including illustrations of numerous boxes) see Bill McLennan and Karen Duffek, The Transforming Image: Painted Arts of the Northwest Coast First Nations (Vancouver: Douglas & McIntyre, 2000), pp. 220-241.