Pacific Northwest Coast Native Art after Beau Dick Kwakwaka'wakw "EAGLE"

Description

REDUCED FROM 00 TO 00 OBO Pacific Northwest Coast EAGLE 13 INCHES WIDE 7" High after Beau Dick. Unsigned ... many artists up here in Port Hardy and Alert Bay feel this is Beau Dick's work but it is not signed as mentioned.. currently trying to track down the history.. purchased from Beau Dick's home town of Alert Bay, BC, Canada SORRY DOES NOT COME WITH STAND
Purchased in Port Hardy BC Canada. Well carved Northwest Coast First Nations. Beautiful locally harvested Red Cedar
CU
Thank you for helping our first nations artists
Eagle is one of the most important beings in the art and mythology of the Northwest Coast Indigenous Culture. Respected for its intelligence and power, as well as its extraordinary vision, in both the literal and figurative senses. Eagles in myth are, likewise, usually noble characters. Eagle is revered as a powerful hunter. The Great Eagle may often be depicted with Salmon, one of its favorite foods, with a hooked beak and small ears.
Kwakwaka'wakw
Tsax̱is (Fort Rupert)
Edward Dossetter, 1881, American Museum of Natural History
The Kwaguʼł Chiefs were discussing the creation of their ancestors while waiting for the second course at a feast given by one of the Chiefs at Tsax̱is. At first no one spoke for a while. Then Ma̱lid spoke, saying, "It is the Sun, our Chief, who created our ancestors of all the tribes." And when the others asked him how this was possible, for the Sun never made even one man, the Chief was silent. Others said, "It is Mink, Tłisa̱lagʼlakw, who made our first ancestors. Then spoke the Great-Inviter, saying, "Listen Kwaguʼł and let me speak a really true word. I see it altogether mistaken what the others say, for it was the Seagull who first became man by taking off his mask and turning into a man. This was the beginning of one of the groups of our tribe. And the others were caused when the Sun and Grizzly Bear and Thunderbird also took off their masks. That is the reason that we Kwaguʼł are many groups, for each group had its own original ancestor."
A Chief visiting from the Nawitti disagreed, and the Kwaguʼł of all four groups became angry. For the Nawitti believe that the Transformer (or Creator) went about creating the first ancestors of all the tribes from people who already existed. But the Chiefs of the Kwaguʼł scoffed at this, saying, "Do not say that the Transformer was the Creator of all tribes. Indeed, he just came and did mischief to men, when he made them into raccoon, and land otter, and deer, for he only transformed them into animals. We of the Kwaguʼł know that our ancestors were the Seagull, Sun, Grizzly Bear and Thunderbird."
Adopted from a discussion recorded by George Hunt, 1906