Lot 338
Attr. Charlie James Yakuglas (Kwakwaka'wakw), Eagle & Whale Totem, ex-Sotheby's
Attr. Charlie James Yakuglas (Kwakwaka'wakw), Eagle & Whale Totem, ex-Sotheby's
Starting Bid: $5,000
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Possibly by Charlie James Yakuglas (Kwakwaka'wakw First Nation, 1867-1937)., . Eagle and whale totem. Painted wooden sculpture, n.d. A vertical narrative carved from a single piece of cedar, this polychrome totem pole rises through a stacked hierarchy of beings whose identities interlock in the layered logic of Northwest Coast crest tradition. At the apex stands a dominant raptor, almost certainly an eagle or thunderbird, its broad wings spread laterally in carved relief and painted in warm ochre, red, and green against the natural wood ground. The beak is boldly hooked, the eyes rendered as large circular forms with characteristic formline ovoids, and a small secondary figure perches at the crown of the head. The body of the great bird is painted in dense black, its chest punctuated by a repeating pattern of large ochre circles that may represent feathers or a specific heraldic device belonging to the commissioning family. Size: 14.1" W x 26.5" H x 10" D (35.8 cm W x 67.3 cm H x 25.4 cm D)
Two smaller attendant bird figures are nested against the central column at the mid-section, each possessing its own spread wings and alert, hook-beaked face, their scale relative to the dominant bird establishing the narrative hierarchy. The lower register of the pole resolves into a broader, more massive form, likely a sea creature or bear, its surface painted with bold Northwest Coast formline designs: sweeping U-forms, ovoids, and eye-forms in black and red that flow continuously around the column. The base carries a frontally oriented face with large circular eyes, its mouth set in the characteristic broad, toothed expression of a supernatural being.
The painting throughout employs the classic Kwakwaka'wakw polychrome palette of black, red, ochre, and green, applied with the confident hand of an experienced practitioner. The back of the pole is simply painted in black with sparse stripe detailing, consistent with a work intended for frontal display. The style, the figural stacking, and the quality of the formline work are consistent with the tradition of Charlie James, known as Yakuglas, the Alert Bay master carver whose work defined Kwakwaka'wakw pole carving in the late 19th and early 20th centuries and whose influence shaped virtually every major carver of the generation that followed, including his grandson Mungo Martin. Attribution to Yakuglas remains possible but should be confirmed by specialist review.
Provenance: private Colorado, USA collection, acquired January 2026; ex-Frederic Backlar, LLC, Beverly Hills, California, USA; ex-Frederick M. Nicholas collection, Beverly Hills, California, USA; ex-Sotheby's New York, New York, USA, May 30, 1986, lot 173; ex-private Florida, USA collection
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Item #
202471
- Condition: Two more petite eagles have repairs to their beaks. Proper left wing of largest bird is loose. Some weathering with nicks and abrasions as shown. Otherwise, excellent with good remaining pigments and rich patina.
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