Tlingit Chilkat Robe

Very good original condition. Overall fading on the face of the weaving, as evidenced in the image. Some minor wear.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

From a written assessment on this piece by Steven C. Brown: "The weaving tradition that produced what has come to be called the Chilkat blanket or robe is stated by Native tradition to have been created by women of the Nass River Tsimshian, the Nishga. A much older geometric style of weaving existed along most of the Northwest Coast from prehistory into the eighteenth century, and it was from within the Nishga branch of this tradition that new techniques were developed which enabled the representation of curvilinear formline designs in fabric.

A few inventive weavers appear to have developed these techniques over time, gradually incorporating painted-style design elements and small formline compositions into weavings executed in the geometric style. Evidence suggests that this took place through a period of time in the eighteenth century. Eventually, as these technical innovations became more widely known, more complex formline designs were being woven, and the characteristics of the Chilkat robe as we know it came into being, probably in the late eighteenth century and expanding into the early nineteenth century. Sometime in this period an apron with a formline beaver design, woven among the Tsimshian, made its way by trade to the Chilkat Tlingit at Klukwan. Weavers there deciphered the formline techniques of this apron, which remains today in Klukwan, and then began weaving new works in this technically advanced style. By the end of the nineteenth century, when anthropologists began identifying various kinds of objects, the Chilkat Tlingit were the major surviving practitioners of this style of weaving. By invention, the name of the Nishga might have been associated with this style of weave, but instead by attrition and persistence the style has been named after the Chilkat people of Klukwan.

The designs for Chilkat robes were composed by male artists who painted the design on a wooden pattern board. The pattern board design was done only in black, showing the main black formlines and the small black finelines that surround even the yellow and blue-green design elements. The design includeed just over half of the total symmetrical design, which is all that's required for the weaver to measure from in order to reproduce the formline pattern in the woven design techniques. Other garments besides robes also had their own pattern boards, such as aprons, tunics, and other small items such as the much rarer leggings or shaman's hats. Some pattern boards were used for weaving one or just a few robes from the design, while from other boards, many robes were woven from the same pattern over an extended period. This was particularly the case in the second half of the nineteenth century, when the number of skilled, experienced artists who knew how to paint the designs had fallen significantly due to cultural demise and introduced diseases...

Early in the development of the Chilkat robe tradition, certain design compositions or layouts appear to have been favored, and these became conventionalized into the 'classic Chilkat' design format. The characteristics of the classic form include the five-sided yellow and black border (shaped like an upside-down housefront), the center panel (where the main image/figure of the design usually resides), and the two side panels (which are mirrored images of one another, composed as two profiles facing inward). A number of robe designs exist that either predate the conventionalization of this form, or their designers merely chose to work in a different format. Most of these merely alter the center panel configuration so that the formline image therein overlaps somewhat into the side panel spaces. Most often the symmetrical nature of these designs and the strength of the formline structures naturally divide up the design field in a balanced, harmonious manner that is similar to the classic format, though less specifically defined.

By the late nineteenth century, when the old formline style was being replaced by a more configurative approach to creature design, the same preference appears in Chilkat robes, aprons, and tunic designs. Many of these include more or less naturalistic creature silhouettes in black, white, yellow, and blue-green on a solid background of the same white, yellow, or blue-green colors. These too were woven from pattern boards, painted by artists who in some areas by that time had changed in their design style.

This particular Chilkat robe is in the classic format, with a well-defined center panel and two symmetrical side panels. The center design appears to be a bird viewed head-on, which is most likely a raven because there's no indication of a recurved or downturned beak in the mouth area. (Chilkat designs are often ambiguous, however, and it's also possible that this design could be interpreted as a thunderbird, even without the indication of a downturned beak in the center.) The large main head with double-eye forms in the eyesockets fills the top sector of the center panel, below which is a small rectangular mask-like face that represents the body of the bird. Below the face is the raven's tail, with two ovoid joints and four blue U-forms representing tail feathers. On either side of the central face are two upside-down double eye forms that are the wing joints, from which feathers extend downward. One of these feather-like U-shapes on each side represents the raven's leg. Each of these connects to the taloned feet that are turned outward from the raven's tail feathers. This general composition is similar to a well-known painted house screen known as the Raven Screen, from the Frog House in Klukwan village, which is now housed in the Seattle Art Museum.

The side panels of this design, rather than representing separate profiles of the central raven figure, appear to actually depict parts of the bird itself. The top outer corners of the central head turn outward slightly and join with the side panel designs, rather than maintaining a straight, distinct separation. The side panels seem to represent another view of the wings and tail of the bird, perhaps as if seen from the side. Alternatively, when viewed upside-down, the side panels can then be seen as the bird's head and wings in profile, with an eye, blunt beak, and feather designs.

The yarns employed in this weaving are of two types: some are native-made, two-ply mountain goat wool yarns, and others are multi-ply commercial yarns that have been dyed by the native process. The commercial yarn has been used in the typical locations for this type of material—in the yellow and black border areas, and the major black formlines of the image. These are design areas that use up a tremendous amount of yarn, which is difficult and labor-intensive to create. By using the commercial yarn in these areas, the weaver has saved herself a great deal of effort, yet the results are very acceptable in appearance and service. This was common practice in the second half of the nineteenth century. It is not known precisely when such commercial yarn products came into general use on the Northwest Coast, but it was most likely in the second half of the century, when Euro-American settlements in the region had grown and become more influential. The adoption of commercial yarn in Chilkat weaving probably took place at very different times in different areas, depending on the proximity and relative influence of non-native communities and material sources.

The maker of this robe was an especially skilled and practiced weaver, demonstrated by the near-perfection of the design shapes and the closeness of the overall formline design to the forms and conventions of the painting tradition. The weaver used small enough yarns to be able to produce smooth, rounded corners as well as squared ones in the design, and has placed all the typical transitional devices of the original painting in their proper locations. The design itself is also a well-balanced and skillfully composed crest image that reflects the late eighteenth-century northern design style. It was this period of design work, now referred to as 'archaic style', that was the standard when Chilkat weaving techniques were developed, and the weaving tradition continued to embrace and maintain these older design conventions up until the end of the nineteenth century in some areas, and well into the twentieth century in the hands of certain very traditionally minded weavers."