c. 1880
This piece has been attributed to the historic Nuu-Chah-Nulth master carver Chiletus. It was included in one of Bill Holm's important exhibitions, "The Box of Daylight" at the Seattle Art Museum and is part of the exhibition catalogue book, on page 116. Chiletus created some of the very best masterpieces of Nuu-Chah-Nulth art and is considered their most important historic master carver. Artists today will study his work in order to learn and better understand the art form. Bill Holm mentions the similarity to the work of Chiletus in his writing and this piece. However, in conversations with Joe David, who is a known expert on the artist, he feels it is by a master carver from the late 1800s but believes it is not done by Chiletus' hand as the style of this carving is from Tla-o-qui-aht.
