A NORTHWEST COAST POLYCHROMED WOOD CEREMONIAL DANCE RATTLE, PROBABLY BELLA COOLA

in two sections, with short cylindrical handle, bound with cloth and strips of hide, surmounted by a large globular head of an unidentified creature carved in high-relief with stylized mask-like features, parted lips, exaggerated hooked beak, and oval eyes beneath thick arching brows, wearing a splayed headdress surmounted by an animal, its head, with large bulbous snout and backswept ears, resting on its short front paws; painted in black, bright blue, and vermillion red details.

PROVENANCE:

Sotheby's, New York, November 30, 1995, lot 187

See Vancouver Art Gallery, 1967, color pl. 88, for a related rattle with a sea monster with a human face.