A short, stout argillite model totem pole with three boldly carved primary figures. The top image, a shark, is sculpted in an unusually active pose, its tall forehead deliberately rotated off to one side. This is perhaps indicative of the anguish associated with the difficulty of quaffing its very large prey, evidently a seal or other large sea mammal, suggested by its highly textured skin surface. Even the shark’s eyes are somewhat oriented to the left, in contrast with the other features of the shark, its pectoral fins, on which the seal’s body rests. These are centered and straight below the shark’s toothy mouth in the manner of the remaining images on the pole. The shark is between the ears of a raven holding a large head-down frog in its beak. The frog is stipple-textured like the seal above, and the raven’s wing feathers appear on each side of the frog, tucked behind the ears of the bear image below. The bear’s tongue extends over its chin, and the exaggeratedly long claws of the forefeet are draped upon its belly.

Steven C. Brown

References: For the section on argillite late model poles see Peter L. Macnair and Alan J. Hoover, The Magic Leaves: A History of Haida Argillite Carving, (Victoria: Royal BC Museum, 1984/2002), pp. 127-138. See also Leslie Drew and Douglas Wilson, Argillite: Art of the Haida, (Vancouver: Hancock House, 1980), pp. 216-227.