This older Tlingit model pole depicts what looks like Raven or Heron clutching Whale in its claws. The work, more sculptural than pole, carries features that make a pre-1900 date likely. It is carved from a single piece of red cedar, including the pedestal-like base. Later poles often had added bases, a convention that emerged after 1900. The bird is carved fully in the round, its formline elements and painted details wrapping across the back with deliberate care. Such experimentation in carving was more common before 1900, when figures were often shaped as complete forms rather than confined to the front face.

The surface pigments also suggest an earlier date. Red Chinese vermilion dominates, kettle black fills the recesses, and faint traces of bluish-green copper mineral remain visible on the base. Later makers turned instead to commercial paints, leaving this surface with a more limited palette. The bird itself is finely rendered, its long beak, prominent ears, and sinuous neck giving it both elegance and tension. Whale, with its high dorsal fin and defined blowhole, may represent Killer Whale. The composition almost certainly gestures toward a Tlingit story, its imagery bound to narrative even if the precise tale remains unknown.

ND with FA