Vibrant Memories of an Expedition to Alaska

Published on 09 June 2022, by Sarah Hugounenq

Auction on 20 June 2022 - 14:00 (CEST) - Château d'Artigny, 92, rue de Monts - 37250 Montbazon

A château in Touraine, a bowl carved with prophetic animals and filled with geraniums, the memory of a grandfather who left for Alaska during the time of the first explorers: all these are the ingredients of the Rouillac auction house’s new discovery.

Tsimshian or Haida, late 18th/early 19th century. Ceremonial bowl with sea bear,... Vibrant Memories of an Expedition to Alaska

Tsimshian or Haida, late 18^th/early 19th century. Ceremonial bowl with sea bear, alder (?), cedar, beaten cedar root cord, abalone (Haliotis), sea snail (Pomaulax gibberosus) opercula, patina arising from use, 3,208 g/7 lb, 22 x 55 x 41 cm/8.7 x 21.7 x 16.1 in.
Estimate: €40,000/60,000

Bowler hats, wing collars and spats contrast with a nonchalant pose straddling the boom of a sailboat moored to a pontoon in the heart of the Arctic Circle. In 1889, these four young aristocrats from Brittany and Touraine were among the first French people to set foot on the soil of British Columbia and Alaska. The "Great Land" had been bought by the United States from Russia a little more than 20 years earlier. The young, well-born, erudite Georges and Abel de Massol de Rebetz, accompanied by their cousin Xavier de Monteil and the photographer Georges de La Sablière, set out on an expedition to the Great American North. The adventure lasted a summer, then the two brothers returned to their lives as responsible family men, burying the memories…

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