Mid-Century Era West Coast Haida Styled Copper Covered Box with Repouse Decor

This hand-carved cedar totem is signed by an unknown artist and presumed to have originated from Canada and dating to approximately 1960 and done in the West Coast Indigenous Haida s...

This folk art carved and polychrome painted totem pole is signed by an unknown artist and originated from the United States and dates to 1985 and d...

This Indigenous American totem pole was done by the renowned master carver John T. Williams of the United States in approximately 1960 in his signa...

This pair of framed prints were done by the well known Indigenous artist Patrick Amos of Nootka, British Columbia Canada in his signature West Coast Haida style. Each of the prints i...

This Indigenous styled lidded basket is presumed to have been made in the United States in circa mid-late 20th century. The maker of the this basket is unknown, but done in the style...

This antique lacquered stacking box set is unsigned, but presumed to have originated from China during the Early Republic period of approximately 1920 and done in a period Chinese Ex...

Antique Sioux (Native American/Plains Indian) Parfleche in a box form constructed of rawhide and intricately painted in an abstract design with hourglass and geometric motifs with natural pigments and red trade cloth. At the time this was created, the Sioux Indians were nomadic and are associated with vast areas of the Great Plains of the United States including present-day North and South Dakota, Minnesota, Nebraska and Montana. Authenticity is guaranteed. Box is in very good condition - please contact us for a detailed condition report. Parfleches are rawhide containers which were fundamental to the Plains way of life. Functioning essentially as protective travelling suitcases, they enabled the nomadic tribes to effectively pursue buffalo herds and migrate between seasonal camps. So critical were they to a nomadic existence that over 40 tribes are known to have historically produced parfleches. Collectively, these tribes inhabited an area which encompassed the entirety of the Plains, as well as the parts of the Southwest, the Transmontane and Western Plateau regions. Parfleches were, out of necessity, robust and versatile objects. They were designed to carry and protect within them anything from medicinal bundles to seasonal clothing or food. In fact, it was because of the containers’ robusticity and variety that parfleches earned their name in the Anglo world. Derived from parer (to parry or turn aside) and fleche (arrow), the word parfleche was coined by 17th century French Canadian voyageurs and used to describe indigenous objects made from rawhide. Despite their common utilitarian function, parfleches served as one of the major mediums through which Plains Indian tribes could develop their long-standing tradition of painting. In fact, it is in large part due to the parfleche that tribal style emerged. Even though parfleche painting developed simultaneously with beading and weaving, painting as an artistic tradition held particular importance in tribal culture. Believed to have evolved from tattooing, it had always been used as a conduit through which tribal and individual identity could be expressed. As such, many tribeswomen were deeply committed, some even religiously, to decorating their parfleche either with incised or painted motifs that were significant to them and/or the tribe. For some tribes, such as the Cheyenne, the decorative processes which surrounded parfleche production were sacred. For others, it seems that their parfleche designs shared an interesting artistic dialogue with their beadwork, indicating a more casual exchange of design motifs. This particular relationship can be seen in Crow parfleche...

Moses Alexcee was a prolific Tsimshian maker from Prince Rupert who frequently carved for William Webber, the owner of the iconic Thunderbird Scenery Shop in Vancouver, BC. Alexcee often carved Tsimshian-style models of Haida totem...

Vintage Chippewa (also known as Ojibwe) birch bark lidded box with porcupine quill decoration and sweetgrass rims fastened with black thread - featuri...

Italian Mid-Century Modern rectangular shape wood box with Sterling silver lid with a shell decor, made by Ottaviani. The piece was made during the 1950s a...

Rare large early Northwest Coast Salish hard burden basket dating from the mid to late 1800's. The basket is finely woven from split cedar bark and root...

Highly unusual and brilliantly glazed, this covered box features a sequence of geometric shapes in bas relief that are filled with pools of vivid, jewel-toned glazes in sapphire, eme...