UNIDENTIFIED HAIDA ARTIST, Late Trade Pipe, c. late 1880s

The Haida argillite “trade pipe” tradition began c. 1850, lasting until the end of the 19th century. Early examples were based on European clay pipes (a bowl and long, narrow stem). Haida artists added figural embellishments, many resembling contemporaneous ship panel pipe imagery. Later trade pipes (beginning c. 1880) depicted Haida imagery almost exclusively, although European faces still often embellish the bowls.

This pipe includes fairly typical Haida imagery, but in an uncommon configuration. Rather than being in the form of a forward-facing human head, or incorporated into an animal’s body, the bowl is unadorned and in second-last position. A fully carved rear-facing eagle extends beyond the bowl, looking back at a raven and frog. The raven lies on its back and joins its beak with the mouth of the frog crouching in the bird’s belly.

References: See the chapter on late trade pipes in Peter L. Macnair and Alan J. Hoover, The Magic Leaves: A History of Haida Argillite Carving, (Victoria: Royal BC Museum, 1984/2002), pp. 119-126. See also Leslie Drew and Douglas Wilson, Argillite: Art of the Haida, (Vancouver: Hancock House, 1980), pp. 164-165.

Artworks

JOIN

UNIDENTIFIED HAIDA ARTIST

Further images

Provenance