A Tlingit Chilkat tunic and leggings
Woven in cedar bark and wool, displaying crest animal figures and secondary accents, the reverse with two bands of zigzag lines and a checkered panel, fringe below, the leggings similarly fringed and striped, mounted and framed.
length 44 1/2 and 14 5/8in
length 44 1/2 and 14 5/8in
Sold for
US$ 114,000
inc. premium
Footnotes
- Provenance:
Mildred Sparks, a Tlingit member of the Raven Whale House, Klukwan, Alaska; Sotheby's, Important American Indian Art, New York, June 12, 1992.
Illustrated:
Keithahn, Edward L., MONUMENTS IN CEDAR, Bonanza Books, New York, 1963, p. 25, in a photo from December 23, 1904 entitled "Chilkats in Dancing Customs at Sitka Potlatch", the current lot worn by a gentleman in the top row, second from left. Chilkat tunics are extremely rare examples of ceremonial regalia. Our lot is apparently one of four known with this particular heraldic design, referred to as a "Two Door House Tunic". They all apparently came from the Klukwan area in Southeast Alaska. The other three such tunics are held by the Denver Art Museum, the University of Pennsylvania Museum and the Portland Art Museum. For a discussion of the history of one of these Two Door House Tunics, see Williams, Wierzbowski and Preucel, editors, OBJECTS OF EVERLASTING ESTEEM, University Museum Publications, 2005, cat. no. 77, a contribution by Nora Dauenhauer, a Tlingit authority from Juneau.
Lot heading
Property from the Phillip Brown collection of Northwest Coast art
Category: Ethnographic Art / Native American
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