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American Indian Art

Sotheby's

10 AM, May 16, 2012

Sale 8861

Chief's blue jacket

Lot 86, "Beaded and fringed hide war shirt, Nez Perce, width across the sleeves, 69 inches

By Carter B. Horsley

This American Indian Art auction May 16, 2012 at Sotheby's New York is highlighted by a wonderful beaded and fringed hide Nez Perce war shirt, some excellent Northwest Coast masks, a good doll and a nice pipe.

Lot 86 is a very impressive Nez Perce beaded and fringed hide war shirt that is 69 inches wide across the sleeves.  It was once to Chief Joseph, In-mut-too-yah-lat-lat (Thunder traveling over the mountains), who was the last of the  great Native American warrior chiefs and was, according to the catalouge entry, distinguished by his eloquence, even-handed justice and diplomacy. He was born in Oregon around 1840 in the Wallowa Valley and his father had told him "you must stop you ears whever you are asked to sign a treaty selling our home" and "Never sell the bones of your father and mother."  In 1968, the U. S.Government issued a Chief Joseph 6-cent stamp.

In 1877, Chief Joseph refused to recognize an 1863 agreement that ceded their lands to the United States and confined them to a reservation in Idaho.  He planned to escape with his tribe including about 200 warriors to Canada and defeated one U.S. Army while eluding another but was defeated after a four-day siege 30 miles from the Canadian border.  He died in 1904.

The lot has an estimate of $400,000 to $600,000.  It sold for $482,500.

Mask with teeth

Lot 35, Polychrome wood face mask, Eskimo, 14 1/2 inches high

Lot 35 is an impressive  Eskimo polychrome wood face mask that is 14 1/2 inches highand was once in the collection of the Heye Foundation and subsequntly was deaccessioned to Julius Carlebach in New York  It has an estmate of $30,000 to $50,000.  It sold for  $74,500.


Mask with mother of pearl

Lot 9, Polychromed wood headdress, Tlingit, 6 1/2 inches high

Lot 9 is a "superb" Tlingit polychromed wood headdress that is 6 1/2 inches high.  The catalogue entry notes that  "the recurved beak image refers  to either a raven or hawk."  The lot has an estimate of $150,000 to $200,000.  It sold for $158,500.


twig mask

Lot 33, "Yup'ik or Kuskokwim River polychrome wood mask, 14 1/2 inches high

Lot 33 is a marvelous polychrome wood mask from the Yup'ik or Kuskokwim River.  It is 14 1/2 inches high and was once in the collection of Robert Gierke and the catalogue entry shows a photograph of a wall of similar masks handing in his store.  It has an  estimate of $70,000 to $100,000.  It sold for $74,500.


Dress

Lot 36, Painted  hide hunting coat, Naskapi, 39 inches long

Lot 36 is a "rare and important" Naskapi painted high hunting coat that is 39 inches long with high collar, narrow waist and flaring skirt sewn of tanned caribou hide.  The catalogue entry notes that a similar coat is in the British Museum.  The Naskapi lived in Quebec.  It has an estimate of $250,000 to $350,000.  It sold for $278,500.


Doll

Lot 5, Doll, polychrome wood, Haida, 19 inches high

Lot 5 is a Haida polychromed wood doll that is 19 inches high.  It was collected in Puget Sound by Captain William Martain in 1828 and is proeprty of the Woburn Public Library.  The catalogue entry states that it is one of four dolls and one mask by the "Jenna Cass" carver, one of the great Haida artists of the early 19th Century, adding that a closely related example is in the Peabody-Essex Museum.  It has an estimate of $50,000 to $70,000.  It sold for $254,500.


Black bird

Lot 61, effigy pipe, Missippian stone, 6 1/2 inches high

Lot 61 is a Missippian stone effigy pipe in the form of a bird with an old label that indicated it was from Wayne County, Kentucky.  It has an estimate of $7,000 to $10,000.  It sold for $17,500.

Skin

Lot 70, "Painted pictorial buffalo hide," Sioux, 105 3/4 inches long

Lot 70 is an impressive Sioux painted pictorial buffalo hide that is 105 3/4 inches long and was once in the collection of the Heye Foundation whose catalogue card on the lot indicated that it had been "bought by Corporal Louis E Clave, 332 M.D., Casual Company, U.S. Marines, in 1887 from Indian who said he killed the buffalo northwest of Cheyene.  The lot was also in the collection of the Zeilinski Collection in Berlin, Germany.  It has an estimate of $90,000 to $120,000.  It sold for $110,500.

Fishlid

Lot 16, Tshimshian polychromed wood lidded dish, 12 3/4 inches high

Lot 16 is a very nice Tshimsian polychromed wood lidded dish in the form of a halibut with a bald eagle cover.  It is 12 3/4 inches high.  It has an esitmate of $25,000 to  $35,000.  It sold for $31,250.


Whakebone club

Lot 1, "Northwest Coast Whalebone Club," probably Haida, 25 1/2 inches long

Lot 1 is a handsome Northwest Coast Whalebone Club that is probably Haida.  It is 25 1/2 inches long and was collected by John Moresby, for whom an island south of Queen Charlotte Island is named and who wrote an account in 1908 of his voyage to the area where he met the Skittaget Tribe that the catalogue states is "now recognized as the finest, most advanced in the arts of any of the Northwest Coast tribes."  The lot has an estimate of $25,000 to $35,000.  It sold for $104,500.



See The City Review article on the Spring 2011 American Indian Art auction at Sotheby's New York

See The City Review article on the Enrico Donati Collection of American Indian, Oceanic and Tribal Art auction at Sotheby's in the Spring 2010

See The City Review article on the Spring 2009 American Indian Art auction at Sotheby's

See The City Review article on Spring 2006 American Indian Art auction at Sotheby's

See The City Review article on the Spring 2000 American Indian Art Auction at Sotheby's

See The City Review article on the Fall 1999 American Indian Art Auction at Sotheby's

See The City Review article on the Spring 1999 American Indian Art auction at Sotheby's

See The City Review article on the Spring 1998 American Indian art auction at Sotheby's

See The City Review article on the Spring 1997 American Indian Art auction at Sotheby's

 



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