North America | Canada
Haida Spoon
Canada
Ceremonial Spoon for a potlatch
Haida
Haida Gwaii (Queen Charlotte Islands),
Northwest Coast, British Columbia, Canada
19th century
Mountain goat horn, abalone inlays and nails
Height: 26.5 cm – 10 ½ in.
Provenance
Collection Prince Sadruddin Aga Khan
Sotheby’s London, June 27, 1983, lot 49
Collection Thérèse Finette and Frits Lemaire, Amsterdam
Collection Karin and Leo van Oosterom, The Hague, acquired in 1983
Collection Franck Marcelin, France
Haida Spoon Aga Khan 26.5 cm / Galerie Flak
Price: on request
As highlighted by Harvard University’s Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology (in their study and exhibition Feeding the Ancestors), participating in a potlatch feast was a profoundly spiritual ritual as much as a social gathering. As guests partook in the meal, the ancestral beings intricately carved onto the spoon handles were symbolically fed, honored, and brought to life. The elaborately carved handle depicts a rich iconography of supernatural beings, spirit guides, natural forces, and animal and human figures. Through an intricate stacking of lineage crests, each handle conveys inherited clan histories—recalling, in miniature, the monumental structure of heraldic crest poles, commonly known as "totems".
Demonstrating extraordinary technical virtuosity and aesthetic balance, this feast spoon serves as a sacred bridge between utilitarian craft, ceremonial prestige, and ancestral memory.
Demonstrating extraordinary technical virtuosity and aesthetic balance, this feast spoon serves as a sacred bridge between utilitarian craft, ceremonial prestige, and ancestral memory.
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