Rare and Important Great Lakes Burl Wood Effigy Bowl, Ottawa or Ojibwa

of deeply hollowed oval form, composed of burl wood, probably maple, finely carved, with a flattened base, the flat encircling rim emerging to a human head, facing the interior of the bowl, wearing a trance-like expression, with delicately carved facial details, ears and traditional coiffure, the opposing side with a raised, stepped panel, possibly a representation of a tail; fine aged patina overall.

The "tail," or raised panel has beeen broken and re-attached. The original piece was used and there does NOT appear to be any infil or overpaint. Present owner has not had anything done to the bowl although it appears as though the surface was polished, NOT cleaned, at some point in its lifetime. Please consult the department for more information.
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.

This exceptional bowl, both in quality and scale, reflects the work of a master carver likely from the Eastern Great Lakes. Human heads carved on the rim of bowls like these is a characteristic of the region, although the torso-like projection, manifest in the simplified representation of shoulders, is thought to be an Iroquois convention. Effigy bowls of this quality pre-date the 19th century. A related bowl in the Fenimore House Museum, Cooperstown, NY, was acquired circa 1770. For a discussion of wood sculpture from the Eastern Great Lakes see Evan Mauer, David Penney (editor), Great Lakes Indian Art, Detroit, 1989, pp. 23-38: "The tribes of the Great Lakes and their neighbors in the Woodlands, Prairies,and eastern Plains have a rich cultural heritage whose visual arts utilize a variety of abstract, symbolic, and representational forms expressed in many techniques, materials and styles. As was common in Native American cultures, most adult men and women of these tribes created various kinds of objects as an integral part of their daily existence...While conclusive documentary evidence linking these effigy bowls to sacred rituals such as the Midewiwin is lacking, the generally held theories as to their spiritual and religious functions can be supported by a comparison of the images on the bowls with graphic and sculptural images that are securely related to the Mide rites. Anthropormorhpic figures of various types are frequently found on the sacred Mide scrolls, where they were part of the aids that describe mystic songs, rituals, and spiritual entities of the society. In the majority of scroll examples, the figures do not represent human beings but powerful spirits, or manitos, which are personified by anthropomorphic forms."