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Vintage British Columbia hand carved cedar totem pole – approximately 7 inches tall
Offered as a wonderful vintage miniature cedar totem pole purchased in British Columbia more than 60 years ago. This distinctive small scale carving features a series of stacked, stylized figures, including a prominent bird-like figure with dramatically outstretched wings at the top. The figures are individually carved and painted in a striking combination of natural cedar, black, red, green, and yellow/gold tones.
The carving has the look and visual vocabulary of north West Coast British Columbia indigenous style wood carving. Because there is no artist signature, provenance or documentation, or tribal attribution accompanying the piece, I am offering it as a vintage British Columbia Northwest coastal carving rather than making an unsupported attribution to a particular first nation or artist.
Details
Height-approximately 7 inches
Material cedar wood
Construction hand carved and hand painted
Origin British Columbia Canada
Age purchased in British Columbia over 60 years ago
Form - freestanding, miniature totem pole style carving
Colors, natural wood, black, red, green, and yellow/gold
Base-original integral wooden display base
Condition : very good vintage condition, consistent with age, displays beautifully. Please examine photographs carefully for the original finish, paint wear, and other age related characteristics.
A compact 7 inch size makes this an especially attractive collector’s or display piece for someone interested in British Columbia, Canadian history, Northwest Coast Art, vintage travel, souvenirs, wood carving, or ethnographic style decorative arts. The totem pole figures can represent and ancestral, supernatural, family, clan, or narrative elements, rather than simply being generic totems.
A particularly nice vintage piece with documented family/travel provenance dating back more than six decades.
