Quileute Power Figure or Shaman’s Wand
Quileute of northwestern Washington State
Circa 1800 - 1850
Wood with natural pigment
Height 21"
Provenance: Goodwill Auction, Portland, OR
B. Henderson, WA
G. Terasaki, NY
David Cook, CO
J Williams, OR
Publication: Transfigurations: North Pacific Coast Art: George Terasaki Collector by Steven Clay Brown, Marquand Books: 2006; catalog number 85
Handheld power figures depicting humanlike images are common among the Quinault of southwestern Washington State, but less often seen are the related figures from their neighbors to the north, The Quileute. Very few of the enigmatic sculptures have survived, though at one time many such figures may have been owned and used by observers of traditional Quileute rituals.
Related to Puget Sound and other Coast Salish styles of carving, the sculpture employs a southern Northwest Coast approach to the stylization of the human form. The long and narrow ridge of the nose divides the plane of the eye sockets into two halves. The eyes themselves are small ovals, intriguingly mismatched. Below the eyes, six small holes apparently made to accept tiny shell inlays indent the surface. At the base of the nose, a horizontal cut separates the cheek plane from that of the mouth and chin. Oddly, the narrowest constriction of the face (as would suggest the neck of the figure) is actually above the point at which the mouth is carved. The lips form a simple oval raised above the surrounding area. Curiously, the arms appear not to be connected to the shoulders, yet the relief carving nonetheless suggests crossed forearms. The abbreviated hands and fingers echo the archaic form of carving, the whole of which suggests an early origin for the image.
A tapered spike carved atop the head most likely formed an attachment point for shredded cedar bark that may once have embellished the figure, cascading around the head and face like coarse hair. Hollow deer toes or dewclaws may also have been attached here. Black and red native-style paints color the surface of the figure, the same hues that were applied as face paint to initiates in the ceremonial societies.
Usually described as “power figures” in the ethnographic literature, such images were made for particular individuals who were initiated into the Quileute spiritual traditions. The figures represent the personal power or guardian spirit that was obtained by their owners. The images were employed in rituals that would call upon this power or spirit for assistance I pursuit from physical healing to sea- or land-mammal hunting.
Steven Clay Brown