A FINE HAIDA SILVER SPOON

Regarding the two spoons by Charles Edenshaw (Lot 97 and Lot 98) Brown (1996) writes "that these traditional Native forms appear to be cut from silver sheet made of hammered-out coin silver. The material is approximately equivalent to twenty-two gauge sterling sheet in thickness, or about .22 inches to .26 inches. Each of the spoons is designed with the handle terminating in a hollow-form raven head, created in shallow repousse and with eye, mouth, and nostril details engraved. Lot 97 features a sea monster design engraved inside the slightly concave hollow of the handle. The sea monster image is suggested by the combination of whale-like and mammal-like symbols in the design, in this case a whale-style head and a mammalian clawed foot. A bird design is engraved on the outside of the spoon's bowl. The image is possibly a raven, suggested by the more or less straight beak line, though other types of small, straight-beaked birds known to Native imagery could also be represented here. Lot 98 displays a thunderbird design on the inner handle, and a double-finned killer whale (an unusual crest image that is unique to certain Haida families) gracefully adapted to the form on the outside of the bowl. Typical of Edenshaw's style and craftsmanship, the engraved images are smoothly executed and carefully adapted to the space designated for them on the spoon's surfaces. Edenshaw appears to have carved a fairly large number of spoons of this style with the raised raven head handles, though each spoon of this type appears to have engraved designs on its surface that are uniquely individual."

Details

A FINE HAIDA SILVER SPOON
BY CHARLES EDENSHAW, CIRCA 1880-1910
In the form of a shallow oval shaped bowl engraved with sea mammal and bird imagery, tapering handle terminated in bird's head with open beak
6½in. (16.5cm.) high

Literature

Holm, 1983, p. 126, no. 218

Exhibited

The Box of Daylight, Seattle Art Museum, September 15, 1983-January 8, 1984, no. 218