19th Century
American
Tlingit Rope-Tied Bentwood Box
red cedar, paint, rope, circa 1850 - 1870
16 1/4 x 12 x 12 1/2 in, 41.3 x 30.5 x 31.8 cm
Estimate: $15,000 - $20,000 CAD
Sold for: $18,750
Preview at:
PROVENANCE
Douglas Reynolds Gallery, Vancouver
Acquired from the above by Gary Bell, Vancouver, January 2006
EXHIBITED
Bill Reid Gallery of Northwest Coast Art, Bill Reid and the Haida Canoe, June 22, 2011 – March 24, 2012
An unusual style found on northern boxes uses formline designs that wrap around all four sides. At first, these patterns look very different from those on boxes with only two painted sides, but they follow the same basic structure. The usual arrangement of head, body, forelimb panels and lower joints is still present, but it is stretched sideways so that the centre of the symmetrical design sits on a corner and spans two adjoining sides. The ovoid joint elements are shifted outward to frame the body, and an extended part of the head design may surround the forelimbs or form a side view of the body. The painted formline pattern continues across the corners, so the full effect of the design can only be seen when the box is viewed at an angle. This corner-oriented layout is rarely seen in bentwood boxes.
Rope was tied to this box to serve as a handle, making the box more suitable for transport. There is an example of a bentwood box in the Canadian Museum of History with a rope tied around it in a similar fashion, object #VII-B-929. Bill McLennan dated this object to the mid-nineteenth century.
For the biography on Gary Bell in PDF format, please click here.
To view the full catalogue for The Gary Bell Collection: Masterworks of Northwest Coast Art, please click here.
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