Anthropos Fine Ancient & Primitive Art

A TSIMSHIAN MODEL TOTEM POLE WITH OWL, WOLF & BEAR

The model totem is probably Coast Tsimshian as opposed to Nishka or Gitksan (further inland), and is a masterful work of art: a bear & a wolf, surmounted by an owl. In my opinion, the pictures are not as good as the pole "live".

It is 27-1/2 in. high and is on its original stand. It is in excellent condition, and dates to the last quarter of the 19th Century.

Provenance: The Rasmussen Collection (now in the Portland Art Museum since the late 1940s) was handled by Earl Stendahl of Los Angeles. His daughter-in-law purchased the totem from the collection. This pole was displayed in their home in Northern California for nearly 60 years. Please see an out-of-print book regarding this collection called: Native Arts of the Pacific Northwest: From the Rasmussen Collection of the Portland Art Museum, by Robert Tyler Davis, Stanford University Press, (also published in GB: Oxford University Press) 1949.