This densely figured model pole brings together Eagle with Fish, Wasgo (Sea-Wolf) with Whale, Raven with Sun, and, at the base, a human figure wearing a mask. The imagery is compact but crowded with incident: bodies bend and figures seem to blend and press into one another, while the dark, glistening argillite surface sharpens every deft cut and contour.

Along with his father and son (see Lot 21), Arthur Moody belonged to a multigenerational family of argillite carvers who “have probably contributed a greater volume of argillite than any three generations in a single family” [1]. His work is represented in major museum collections, including the Museum of Anthropology at UBC and the Museum of Vancouver.

1. Leslie Drew and Douglas Wilson, Argillite, Art of the Haida (North Vancouver, B.C.: Hancock House, 1980), p. 254.