A NORTHERN HAIDA CARVING of a shaman upon the back of a sculpin, the former carved in high relief wearing a "crown" of eight horn spikes (two broken), the forked tail of the fish with scroll ends, the whole painted red and black, the shaman also with a blue face, the flat unpainted reverse with inscription Kit-kow-e-giver/a Fabulous Fish of the Haidah Indian/mythology. Said to seize Indians while bathing and carry them off its back/80333, last quarter of the 19th century

细节

A NORTHERN HAIDA CARVING of a shaman upon the back of a sculpin, the former carved in high relief wearing a "crown" of eight horn spikes (two broken), the forked tail of the fish with scroll ends, the whole painted red and black, the shaman also with a blue face, the flat unpainted reverse with inscription Kit-kow-e-giver/a Fabulous Fish of the Haidah Indian/mythology. Said to seize Indians while bathing and carry them off its back/80333, last quarter of the 19th century
47cm. long

拍品专文

The number 80333 on the back of this carving would appear to be that of a museum which we have been unable to trace, nor can we recognise the hand of the inscription which is written in dark ink. The Haida shared many myths with their northern neighbours, the Tsimshian (by whom the carving could have been made), one of the most popular being that of the Prince who was discovered in the belly of a salmon (Barbeau, 1953, pp. 344-346)
A similar carving in the Wolfgang Paalen collection is illustrated by Inverarity (1967, no.218) who describes the animal as a sea monster though in this case the figure on its back is a naked female. It is inscribed Sitka 1810, which Inverarity states, "may or may not be an indication of the carving's age".