Wolf/eagle pipe Most Elaborate! Burnt Work on LRG wood box:JC Polchies, Mi'kmaq

Description

BEST
& one of the largest pyrographic decorated wooden boxes by Mi'kmaq artist - J Clifton Polchies that I have offered!  -
This wooden box has on the lid/top a  howling wolf - standing on a rock imposed over the full moon.  In the background there is a tipi and evergreen trees. Very detailed and beautifully done.   It is  by J Clifton Polchies, Mi'kmaq, who has added his great burntwork art to this commercially made large wooden box.  On either side of the box is an medicine feather, eagle, with wrapped quill and 2 dangles each with a bead on the end.  The quill wrap has different designs on either side.  Imposed over the medicine feather is a Mi'kmaq "4 directions" design...  Also known as the "starfish"design.  -  The sides are negative image with the design being light and the background dark/burntwork.  On the box front is yet a 3rd medicine feather (the front is done w/designs being dark - so looks quite different then the feathers on the sides) ..  It is similar to side feathers and it also has a design on the quill wrap that is different than either of the side feathers'.  ...  Imposed over this feather is a pipe, the pipe has "carved"  on the bowl end an eagle head.  Some of the best work yet of Clifton's.  All the designs are quite detailed and extremely well done.
Burnt work is also called  pyrography - dictionary definition
"Pyrography is the art of decorating wood or other materials with
burn
marks"
As a traditional art of the Wabanaki, burnt work has been used for at nearly 2 centuries and perhaps even prior to European contact...  The earliest burnt work design I have seen was on a paddle was dated to 1850 and have been told of others that were even earlier.  Wooden objects as well as birch bark items were sometimes decorated using the tips of burning sticks etc.
This commercially purchased wooden box has had the all the burnt work designs placed on it by the Mi'kmaq artist, J Clifton Polches.
(Please note that as this box is added to my inventory - there is another box that is the same size and construction as this.  BUT that box only has design on the lid and the front ... and those designs are much less detailed ... and there were 2 slight flaws to the commercial box (not Clifton's drawing but the manufacturing of box)  - SO that large box with nice pyrographic drawings is deeply discounted (for flaws and also due to less elaborate work by Clifton)...  If you like the size of this, but are interested in a less expensive choice - check that out)
This is 8" long, 6.5" deep and 4.25" high.  The top and bottom are larger  - so lid and bottom are 1/2" larger than interior of box. (Box is 7" long, 5.5" deep and .. still 4.25" high)     It would make a great desk top box for holding pens, paper clips, erasers etc... or a wonderful jewelry/trinket box.  Some of my Mi'kmaq (USA spelling, MicMac) friends use this to store medicinal herbs for teas, or tobacco for smoking in traditional pipes - as well as cedar, sweetgrass and sage for smudging.  -  You can store spiritually or emotionally significant items in this too.
This large box weighs nearly 1# ... so boxed for shipping it will be nearly 1 3/4#s.  -  I will send it "calculated shipping" which means you will pay exactly what it costs to ship to your location from Maine.  Closer you are to Maine the less the shipping will be.