Sterling Silver, Oxidized, 23K Yellow Gold
Engraved

David Neel’s My Final Exam (Raven) Box is a sterling silver and gold miniature replication of a traditional bentwood box. The original box, carved by an enigmatic and mysterious artist known only as the “Master of the Black Field”, can be found in the collection of the American Museum of Natural History in New York City. The “Master of the Black Field” was of probable Tlingit descent and lived and worked during the 1800’s. The original box, which depicts a Seal, was collected by US Naval Lieutenant George Thornton Emmons, an ethnographic photographer who recorded information and artifacts from the Tlingit and Tahltan Nations in the 1880s.

All of the greats in Northwest Coast art, including the likes of Bill Reid and Robert Davidson, have studied the Master’s work. Bill Holm, the infamous Northwest Coast art historian and author of Northwest Coast Indian Art: An Analysis of Form, has called the nineteenth-century original a “masterpiece.” Acclaimed Haida artist Bill Reid referred to his effort to learn from the box as “the final exam” in understanding the visual language of Northwest Coast northern design; thus informing Neel’s title of his own piece.

My Final Exam (Raven) Box is a highly detailed exploration of the finer uses of form line design. Neel’s study of the revered design by the Master can be seen when comparing the two pieces. Each panel of the original box is replicated in Neel’s own style. David has also inlaid the box with gold accents and oxidized the silver, adding further emphasis to its finite and intricate detailing. The lid is removable and seals perfectly on all four sides of the box.

While many of his pieces are more contemporary in their material and design, Neel learned carving in the traditional style by his family and peers in his father’s village. At the age of 27, he apprenticed with legendary artist Beau Dick. He attended art school studying photojournalism, and brings this wider awareness of contemporary art practice to his pieces.

“Northwest Coast design is infinitely complex, with endless possibilities, and I continue to try to further my understanding of this endlessly intricate art form.”  ~ David Neel