Boma Pendant What is the design?

Hi all,
I can't figure out what the design is on this pendant - a Corrine Hunt design, made by Boma. I thought maybe a wave or fin but not finding anything. Made of a pewter and silver alloy.
any information appreciated
thanks for looking

 

Boma (now Panabo Sales) calls it a Wolf (land):
"The Wolf (Land) - A symbol of family. The tail curls around playfully suggesting love and happiness within the family."
I believe the land reference is to the ancient Greek "elements," earth, air, fire, water; she's also got Boma designs referring to the eagle as air, and killer whale as sea.
https://www.panabosales.com/productdisplay/silver-pewter-land-pendant

 

wow, thank-you all_fakes I would never have figured that one out! Using the word wolf, I'm now finding more of them - funny how that works

 

if that's a wolf.........i'm a ventilator shaft .!!!

 

Agreed, but it is breezy in here from time to time ....

 

It's an ill wind what blows nobody any good !

 

I just learned something.

 

komokwa, maybe this helps

 

not even close......sure she's well known and all that....but her designs...like those above...would be unrecognizable to a clan chief 150 years ago.....

orca....



wolf....



eagle.......




these....if only the head was shown.....would be instantly understood by anyone with the knowledge of proper design and formline structure...

 

True, but art is allowed to evolve. After all, NW Coast art didn't start out the way it was 150 years ago either.
But I agree, at least one more wolf feature would have made it recognizable without needing an explanation.

 

evolve, yes....but when it gets to a point that it is now unrecognizable from it's former self...where the cultural tradition has been cast aside ....then it's more E - commerce ....than evolution..



That's a porpoise ....or lock of my hair....or some kind of hook......or claw...or whatever anyone sees in it.....but it's not NWC.

 

At first I thought it was a crescent moon. LOL

 

To continue the discussion, and do so without saying that anyone is wrong: there is indeed a progress or evolution in Northwest Coast Native art; and one expects that newer artists will both learn from their ancestors, and will carry the traditions forward, from the past into the present. In Northwest Coast Native art the deference to tradition is arguably more strict than in some other traditional arts; (read Bill Holm's "Northwest Coast Indian Art; an Analysis of Form" to study that aspect further).

There is always a balancing act between deference to the traditions, and innovation. And different people may have differing opinions about a piece of art; some saying the artist has gone too far toward innovation, losing the tradition; others saying that the innovations are acceptably within the tradition.
Part of the tradition in Northwest Coast Native art is that various creatures are defined by specific features; for example, if it has a blowhole and/or dorsal fin, it must be a whale; and conversely, if it has no blowhole or dorsal fin, it cannot possibly be a whale. Likewise, curved beak = eagle; straight beak with circle representing daylight = raven. Under those standards, a lot of people would find Ms. Hunt's eagle and killer whale to be acceptably within the tradition; one has a fin, the other a curve that could be seen as a beak. I personally find the curve supposedly representing the wolf's tail to be quite a stretch.
But it is still jewelry, and many people might find it attractive; and opinions might differ, in any case.
Examples of innovation within the NW Coast tradition can be found within the work of Robert Davidson; in 1972 he began a series of prints which stripped a number of creatures down to only their essential elements; and later continued that journey in sculpture and paintings. The 1972 series "feathers" features creatures reduced to essential elements, folded up inside the shape of a feather. By "essential elements" I mean those features such as the blowhole which define a particular creature in NW Coast Native art; without which, it could not be seen as that creature. Some of the figures are killer whale, raven, wolf; and one which, by the time I spoke with him, he had forgotten exactly what it was: "some kind of sea-bird, like a sandpiper." Many people would be hard-pressed to recognize the creatures in Davidson's "Five Feathers;" but the whale has a fin and blowhole; the raven has a straight beak; the wolf has a tail, and so on. I don't find his to be beyond the acceptable bounds of tradition; but they certainly go pretty far past the traditional boundaries.
See if you can tell which is which; in a typical Davidson joke, they all were printed in red on white only, but one could get the raven in either white or black.

 

raven,wolf ,orca,..... easy peasy............................for me..!

 

Thank you for the time and expertise! Truly appreciated. (Again!)