Shaman’s charm

This exceptional amulet is entirely carved in bas-relief on both sides, with motifs characteristic of Haida art.

On one side, the image represents a killer whale or orca, as indicated by the dorsal fin extending behind the head. A harpoon emerges from the cetacean’s mouth.

The other side features a symmetrical arrangement of two opposing figures surrounding the image of a beaver seen from the front, with its distinctive attributes: the incisors and the piece of wood held between the legs. The two figures are most probably crows with humanoid attributes.

Amulets were supposed to embody the power and strength of the shaman. These images of power were used as talismans to invoke beneficent spirits during healing rituals, and were sometimes left with the patient to help them heal. Amulets were also believed to contain the power of the spirit of the animal from which they came.

This rare amulet is carved from the tooth of a sperm whale, an uncommon visitor to the northwest coast, but regularly seen in the outer waters offshore.

Unlike other peoples of the northwest coast, the Haida did not hunt this type of cetacean, but occasionally a sperm whale carcass washed ashore and plundered for its abundant ivory and strong, useful bones.

Numerous ivory and bone amulets were used, and sometimes made, by shamans. They were usually part of a necklace or attached to a garment. We also know that ivory amulets were attached to elk skin tunics. This amulet has not been pierced, fixed or hung. It may have belonged to a high-ranking member of a clan or house, and was used as a personal talisman in a moose or deerskin pouch.

The Royal Ontario Museum holds a very similar amulet (Inv 946-81-8) collected by Canadian artist Paul Kane during a trip to this region between 1846 and 1848, reproduced in the Musée de l’Homme exhibition, Paris ¹⁹⁶⁹¹. Another slightly different model is kept at the Museum of the American, Indian in New York^.2 (Inv 2/2089)
_____________________________________________________________________

1- Musée de l’Homme, Paris. 1969. Masterpieces of Canadian Indian and Eskimo Art. n°125
2- Frederick J. Dockstader. 1962. Indian art in America,
The arts and crafts of the North American Indian. N° 119

Price: €24,000