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The smooth, polished bone of the handle pommel has been sculpted into an alert-looking wolf's head, its features defined by very cleanly cut relief and modeling that lend it quite an animated spirit. The relationship between the conventions of flat-design and the sculptural form of carvings such as this can be very clearly seen. The eyebrow blends naturally with a formline-type flow around the eyesocket, temple, and the corner of the jawline, which leaves a three-pointed cheek design in the conventional position relative to the eyesocket. The lips are formed as a smooth, formline band. The abalone-inlaid nostril is ovoid-shaped, and the eye and eyelid fit into the ovoid-shaped socket in flat-design proportions. The sculptural effect is enhanced by the rounding and modeling of all these forms, and the carving back of the points of the eyelid lines into the hollow of the eyesocket. The warm, bright color of the bone highlights the iridescent blue of the imported abalone shell pieces in the eyes, ears, nostrils, and teeth. The stains on the leather thong are a grim reminder of the violence that was not uncommon in the old, highly class-structured Northwest Coast Native world. (From the Catalog of the Thaw Collection of American Indian Art, 2nd ed.)
Exhibition History"Art Des Indiens D'Amerique Du Nord Dans La Collection D'Eugene Thaw," Mona Bismarck Foundation, Paris, France, Somogy Editions D'Art, January 21, 2000 - March 18, 2000.
"Treasures from the Thaw Collection," Wheelwright Museum of American Indian Art. Santa Fe, NM, May 1, 2000 - December 31, 2000.
ProvenanceBlade provenance: Shadusixt; Chief Shakes, Wrangell, Alaska.
Dagger provenance: Member of Nanya.ayi clan, Wrangell, Alaska; Sam Jackson's grandfather and later Sam Jackson's uncle, Klukwan, Alaska; Sheldon Kodenaha Family, Klukwan, Alaska; Maggie Kodenaha; Axel Rasmussen (1093), Skagway, Alaska, c. 1932; Robert Tyler Davis, Lillydale, New York; Sotheby's Parke Bernet, New York City, 1979, lot 332; Private collection, New Jersey; Sotheby's Parke Bernet, New York City, 1981, lot 350; Stefan Edlis, Chicago, Illinois
BibliographyDavis, Robert Tyler. Native Arts of the Pacific Northwest from the Rasmussen Collection in the Portland Art Museum. Stanford, California: Stanford University Press, 1949, fig.29 & (entry) pp.139-140.
Sotheby Parke Bernet. 21 April 1979, Sale 4237, lot 332, Robert Tyler Davis.
Sotheby Parke Bernet 25 April 1981, Sale 4586Y, lot 350.
Perriot, Francoise, and Slim Batteux, Arts des Indiens d'Amerique du Nord: dans la Collection d'Eugene et Clare Thaw. Paris, somogy edition d'Art, 1999, p. 133, fig. 108.
Vincent, Gilbert et al. Art of the North American Indians: The Thaw Collection. Cooperstown, New York: Fenimore Art Museum, 2000, p.374.
Fognell, Eva and Alexander Brier Marr, eds. Art of the North American Indians: The Thaw Collection at the Fenimore Art Museum, 2nd ed. Cooperstown, New York: Fenimore Art Museum, 2016, p. 415.
Culture
Tlingit
Dagger
Date1800-1850
DimensionsOverall: 14 7/8 × 2 5/8 in. (37.8 × 6.7 cm)
Object numberT0202
Credit LineLoan from the Eugene V. and Clare E. Thaw Charitable Trust
Photograph by John Bigelow Taylor, NYC
Label TextThe Native history of this knife (recorded by Robert Tyler Davis) states that the blade is one of three made in Klukwan from a piece of iron found in driftwood long ago near Yakutat, on the Gulf of Alaska coast (Sam Jackson, Aug. 1940). The original owner of the knifeblade, Shadusixt (Davis spelling), traded it to Chief Shakes of Wrangell, who is said to have had the wolf handle put on the blade. Another Wrangell man carried it with him to Klukwan, where he fell victim to the violence of a long-standing feud between Wrangell Nanya.ayi clan people and Sitka Kagwanton people. The name of the dagger in English is "Swimming-Across-Wolf-Knife."The smooth, polished bone of the handle pommel has been sculpted into an alert-looking wolf's head, its features defined by very cleanly cut relief and modeling that lend it quite an animated spirit. The relationship between the conventions of flat-design and the sculptural form of carvings such as this can be very clearly seen. The eyebrow blends naturally with a formline-type flow around the eyesocket, temple, and the corner of the jawline, which leaves a three-pointed cheek design in the conventional position relative to the eyesocket. The lips are formed as a smooth, formline band. The abalone-inlaid nostril is ovoid-shaped, and the eye and eyelid fit into the ovoid-shaped socket in flat-design proportions. The sculptural effect is enhanced by the rounding and modeling of all these forms, and the carving back of the points of the eyelid lines into the hollow of the eyesocket. The warm, bright color of the bone highlights the iridescent blue of the imported abalone shell pieces in the eyes, ears, nostrils, and teeth. The stains on the leather thong are a grim reminder of the violence that was not uncommon in the old, highly class-structured Northwest Coast Native world. (From the Catalog of the Thaw Collection of American Indian Art, 2nd ed.)
Exhibition History"Art Des Indiens D'Amerique Du Nord Dans La Collection D'Eugene Thaw," Mona Bismarck Foundation, Paris, France, Somogy Editions D'Art, January 21, 2000 - March 18, 2000.
"Treasures from the Thaw Collection," Wheelwright Museum of American Indian Art. Santa Fe, NM, May 1, 2000 - December 31, 2000.
ProvenanceBlade provenance: Shadusixt; Chief Shakes, Wrangell, Alaska.
Dagger provenance: Member of Nanya.ayi clan, Wrangell, Alaska; Sam Jackson's grandfather and later Sam Jackson's uncle, Klukwan, Alaska; Sheldon Kodenaha Family, Klukwan, Alaska; Maggie Kodenaha; Axel Rasmussen (1093), Skagway, Alaska, c. 1932; Robert Tyler Davis, Lillydale, New York; Sotheby's Parke Bernet, New York City, 1979, lot 332; Private collection, New Jersey; Sotheby's Parke Bernet, New York City, 1981, lot 350; Stefan Edlis, Chicago, Illinois
BibliographyDavis, Robert Tyler. Native Arts of the Pacific Northwest from the Rasmussen Collection in the Portland Art Museum. Stanford, California: Stanford University Press, 1949, fig.29 & (entry) pp.139-140.
Sotheby Parke Bernet. 21 April 1979, Sale 4237, lot 332, Robert Tyler Davis.
Sotheby Parke Bernet 25 April 1981, Sale 4586Y, lot 350.
Perriot, Francoise, and Slim Batteux, Arts des Indiens d'Amerique du Nord: dans la Collection d'Eugene et Clare Thaw. Paris, somogy edition d'Art, 1999, p. 133, fig. 108.
Vincent, Gilbert et al. Art of the North American Indians: The Thaw Collection. Cooperstown, New York: Fenimore Art Museum, 2000, p.374.
Fognell, Eva and Alexander Brier Marr, eds. Art of the North American Indians: The Thaw Collection at the Fenimore Art Museum, 2nd ed. Cooperstown, New York: Fenimore Art Museum, 2016, p. 415.
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