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PARIS TRIBAL 2018
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PARIS TRIBAL 2018
native american art
Pipebowl
Archives | USA
Pipebowl
USA
Horse Effigy Pipebowl
Sioux Lakota, Plains
Carved catlinite
Circa 1880s
Length: 8 ¾ in. – 22 cm
Provenance
Ex collection Helene Sage, New Mexico
Ex collection Ted Trotta-Bono, New York
Ex collection privée, Nice
Exhibition & Literature:
“Beyond Hollywood: American Indian Identities”, June-December 2018, Museum of Ethnology, Valencia, Spain
Sold
This is a pipe!
This Sioux pipe bowl, made of catlinite, represents a stylized horse. This type of pipe is known as an « arched-neck horse head and saddle pipe ».
Among the Plains Indians, the most sacred object was the calumet pipe. Calumets were used in times of war and times of peace to ensure protection and success.
Smoking was a means of creating harmony with the spiritual elements, with the smoke symbolizing prayer, a gift or a request for assistance from the Great Spirit.
Before talking of holy things, we prepare ourselves by offerings. One will fill his pipe and hand it to the other who will light it and offer it to the sky and earth. They will smoke together. Then they will be ready to talk.
Mato-Kuwapi (Chased by Bears), a Santee-Yanktoni, Sioux warrior.
This Sioux pipe bowl, made of catlinite, represents a stylized horse. This type of pipe is known as an « arched-neck horse head and saddle pipe ».
Among the Plains Indians, the most sacred object was the calumet pipe. Calumets were used in times of war and times of peace to ensure protection and success.
Smoking was a means of creating harmony with the spiritual elements, with the smoke symbolizing prayer, a gift or a request for assistance from the Great Spirit.
Before talking of holy things, we prepare ourselves by offerings. One will fill his pipe and hand it to the other who will light it and offer it to the sky and earth. They will smoke together. Then they will be ready to talk.
Mato-Kuwapi (Chased by Bears), a Santee-Yanktoni, Sioux warrior.
Publication
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Harpoon Counterweight
North America | Alaska
Harpoon Counterweight
Alaska
An exceptional Winged Object – Harpoon Counterweight
Old Bering Sea II / III Culture
Archaic Eskimo
Alaska or Siberia
Marine Ivory
300 – 500 A.D.
Length: 6 ½ in.
Provenance
Collection Marie-Eliane d’Udekem d’Acoz, New York
Christie’s Paris, 14 June 2011, lot 120
Collection Ron Nasser, New York
Galerie Flak, Paris
Private collection, Paris, acquired from the above in September 2014
Publication & Exhibition
« Ancient Eskimo Ivories of the Bering Strait »,
traveling exhibition 1986-1988
The Anchorage Museum of History and Art
The Lowie Museum of Anthropology, Berkeley
The Detroit Institute of Arts
The American Museum of Natural History, New York
Publication
Ancient Eskimo Ivories of the Bering Strait, Wardwell A., 1986, pl. 78.
OBS III or III Harpoon counterweight 16 cm / Galerie Flak
Price : on request
This archaic Eskimo counterweight, known as a "winged object," was attached to the rear of a hunting harpoon to ensure its aerodynamic stability in flight.
For Henry B. Collins—author of the first study on ancient Old Bering Sea artifacts, Prehistoric Art of the Alaskan Eskimo (1929)—“winged objects (harpoon counterweights) constitute the masterpieces of Eskimo art.”
Between 10,000 and 12,000 years ago, semi-nomadic hunters undertook the crossing of the Bering Strait between Siberia and Alaska, following the migration of large marine mammals. These early Paleo-Eskimo populations gradually settled on St. Lawrence Island, a prime hunting ground for walruses and seals. It was there that the Old Bering Sea culture emerged around 100 BC with the birth of the Okvik civilization (also known as Old Bering Sea I culture).
In the hostile climate of the Far North, virtually no trees or plants could grow; therefore, hunting marine mammals was essential for survival. Season after season, century after century, Arctic peoples adapted and perfected their equipment and technical expertise. Kayak hunters notably wore waterproof parkas made of seal gut, conical hats or visors, and snow goggles to protect their eyes from the sun's glare on frozen surfaces or water.
Beyond these functional and practical productions, one of the most remarkable achievements of archaic Arctic cultures was the development of the reusable harpoon.
As Peter Loovers (Sainsbury Centre) notes—based on Sergei A. Arutunov’s text The Eskimo Harpoon in Gifts from the Ancestors: Ancient Ivories of Bering Strait (Princeton University Art Museum, 2009, pp. 52-57)—the Old Bering Sea (OBS) harpoon consists of five parts: the counterweight-stabilizer (winged object), the shaft, the socket piece, the foreshaft, and the harpoon head.
The harpoon was launched using a throwing board (atlatl), and the harpoon head was attached to a float made from an inflated seal bladder. The walrus ivory components of the harpoon were carved and adorned with exceptionally fine motifs. This reusable hunting instrument had to be heavy enough to penetrate the thick skin of walruses or seals, yet short enough to be launched by a hunter from his kayak.
The invention of the harpoon allowed for the organization and planning of sustained and successful hunting expeditions, laying the foundations for a stable and flourishing culture.
For Henry B. Collins—author of the first study on ancient Old Bering Sea artifacts, Prehistoric Art of the Alaskan Eskimo (1929)—“winged objects (harpoon counterweights) constitute the masterpieces of Eskimo art.”
Between 10,000 and 12,000 years ago, semi-nomadic hunters undertook the crossing of the Bering Strait between Siberia and Alaska, following the migration of large marine mammals. These early Paleo-Eskimo populations gradually settled on St. Lawrence Island, a prime hunting ground for walruses and seals. It was there that the Old Bering Sea culture emerged around 100 BC with the birth of the Okvik civilization (also known as Old Bering Sea I culture).
In the hostile climate of the Far North, virtually no trees or plants could grow; therefore, hunting marine mammals was essential for survival. Season after season, century after century, Arctic peoples adapted and perfected their equipment and technical expertise. Kayak hunters notably wore waterproof parkas made of seal gut, conical hats or visors, and snow goggles to protect their eyes from the sun's glare on frozen surfaces or water.
Beyond these functional and practical productions, one of the most remarkable achievements of archaic Arctic cultures was the development of the reusable harpoon.
As Peter Loovers (Sainsbury Centre) notes—based on Sergei A. Arutunov’s text The Eskimo Harpoon in Gifts from the Ancestors: Ancient Ivories of Bering Strait (Princeton University Art Museum, 2009, pp. 52-57)—the Old Bering Sea (OBS) harpoon consists of five parts: the counterweight-stabilizer (winged object), the shaft, the socket piece, the foreshaft, and the harpoon head.
The harpoon was launched using a throwing board (atlatl), and the harpoon head was attached to a float made from an inflated seal bladder. The walrus ivory components of the harpoon were carved and adorned with exceptionally fine motifs. This reusable hunting instrument had to be heavy enough to penetrate the thick skin of walruses or seals, yet short enough to be launched by a hunter from his kayak.
The invention of the harpoon allowed for the organization and planning of sustained and successful hunting expeditions, laying the foundations for a stable and flourishing culture.
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North America
