Can anyone identify the carving on this softwood platter, at least 90 years old? No idea how it was originally finished, as when found it was thickly lathered with what I imagine was silver radiator paint.
Replies
Appreciate the Antiques Roadshow quality of this post
aug 25, 2025, 3:14 am • 43 0 • view
Speaking of which on the UK version I have seen several examples of Haida argillite carvings brought back to England from First Nations trading on the British Columbia coast, and the style reminded me of the rim here.
aug 25, 2025, 3:34 am • 16 0 • view
That's beautiful
aug 25, 2025, 3:47 am • 5 0 • view
I was thinking that it looked Haida
aug 26, 2025, 1:13 pm • 0 0 • view
It’s not anything close to Haida art, but I can see how one might make the association.
aug 25, 2025, 4:20 am • 0 0 • view
Strikes me as Norwegian or Swedish
aug 25, 2025, 4:00 am • 0 0 • view
pretty
aug 25, 2025, 3:30 am • 0 0 • view
aug 25, 2025, 3:32 am • 0 0 • view
Softwood certainly would be common for PNW (Can/US), though I’m not sure the carving would suggest Haida tradition. But there are good museum/cultural institutions that could probably help narrow down the style.
aug 25, 2025, 4:20 am • 1 0 • view
Did you try Google lens?
aug 25, 2025, 6:38 am • 0 0 • view
I just googled it. “Western Coastal US carved wood bowl with fish.” The art style of the fish is very similar. This was on eBay and was listed as being from Alaska.
aug 25, 2025, 3:54 am • 2 0 • view
Interesting it made its way to Virginia.
aug 26, 2025, 1:15 pm • 0 0 • view
Beautiful, but those don't look at all like salmon to me. Any markings on the back? The lunettes look made by a woodcarver's chisel. What is the wood?
aug 25, 2025, 3:22 am • 4 0 • view
Gouge, yes Two taps of the mallet per lunette
aug 25, 2025, 3:27 am • 6 0 • view
A better word. The curve of the inside wall is beautifully done.
aug 25, 2025, 3:29 am • 3 0 • view
Looks European, Scandinavian perhaps? Look more like herring than salmon and iconography resonates with my Viking/Anglo Saxon genetic heritage somehow.
aug 25, 2025, 3:25 am • 7 0 • view
Might make sense given immigration.
aug 26, 2025, 1:14 pm • 1 0 • view
📌
aug 26, 2025, 12:55 am • 0 0 • view
tbh it doesn't especially resemble most pnw native art I'm familiar with (grew up in Washington) although it could be outside my purview haha. it's definitely not Salish/Haida etc formline art though
aug 25, 2025, 4:10 am • 2 0 • view
Survivor of abuse
aug 25, 2025, 10:47 am • 0 0 • view
OK, my archaeologist friend says: "Probably not legit native American. More like folk art made to look indigenous."
aug 27, 2025, 1:38 am • 1 0 • view
You should reach out to Mike Wolfe of American Pickers through your agent if nothing resolves here.
aug 25, 2025, 3:21 am • 0 0 • view
Definitely not Pacific Northwest.
aug 25, 2025, 8:05 am • 1 0 • view
Simply beautiful.
aug 25, 2025, 3:15 am • 3 0 • view
I've asked Grok4. And now I'm watching its search and thought processes.
aug 25, 2025, 3:21 am • 2 0 • view
Here's what Grok4 thinks it is: "This appears to be a carved wooden food bowl or feast platter from the Tami Islands in the Huon Gulf region of Papua New Guinea (part of Melanesia/Oceania)."
aug 25, 2025, 3:27 am • 5 0 • view
Thanks! I suspect that’s it.
aug 25, 2025, 4:28 am • 6 0 • view
The images online for Tami feast bowls don’t look anything like this. My first thought was that this was a Nordic wall plate, but they’re usually not oval shaped, usually either circular or square with rounded corners. Are there holes in the back where a hanger could’ve been attached?
aug 25, 2025, 6:09 am • 3 0 • view
clearly it is Minoan or possibly Atlantean
aug 25, 2025, 5:01 am • 2 0 • view
Grok (and other LLMs) are not a reliable source of information and based on it claiming that's what it is, I assume that the only thing we now know is that it is not that.
aug 25, 2025, 3:44 pm • 0 0 • view
LLM have been fed a whole lot of fiction. Take it to your nearest large anthropology department.
aug 25, 2025, 6:29 pm • 0 0 • view
I've been following a discussion of chatbots in the Alamy contributors's forum. Confidentially incorrect is very typical. Verify with some non-ai web sites. I had a spider egregiously misidentified. There are image ID searches that don't work anymore. TinEye maybe useful.
aug 25, 2025, 6:16 pm • 0 0 • view
You did a great job refinishing it. Every time I refinish something, I say it’s the last time. Finally has come true.
aug 25, 2025, 3:20 am • 1 0 • view
You’re Pacific Northwest who appreciate the salmon running…I’d guess it’s local and got a fad treatment in the 70s?
aug 25, 2025, 3:17 am • 4 0 • view
bsky.app/profile/grea...
aug 25, 2025, 7:30 am • 0 0 • view
Bowls like that are fairly common in Papua New Guinea. But fish seem almost PAC NW.
aug 25, 2025, 3:18 am • 8 0 • view
That's what Grog4 thinks, too. 🤯 "This appears to be a carved wooden food bowl or feast platter from the Tami Islands in the Huon Gulf region of Papua New Guinea (part of Melanesia/Oceania)." I had no idea, but I wanted to see it go through its steps, working it out.
aug 25, 2025, 3:30 am • 1 0 • view
Wood almost looks like pine too which might suggest N. America.
aug 25, 2025, 3:20 am • 0 0 • view
I threw the pic into Google Image Search and it gave me nothing good. It mentioned Papau New Guinea (sp?) like another commenter did, but the search results weren't convincing. Someone else mentioned that the bowl's type of wood would be a good clue to its origin.
aug 25, 2025, 4:32 am • 2 0 • view
Yeah, I was going with PNW vibes as well. Similar imagery appears all over Seatac Intl. Airport. Could be a ref to Duwamish or Nesquali.
aug 25, 2025, 3:48 am • 2 0 • view
Those on the bowl might be Nordic fish, but PNW Native-carved fish are different.
aug 25, 2025, 4:14 am • 4 0 • view
That's what I was thinking too 🤔🤔🤔
aug 25, 2025, 3:24 am • 0 0 • view
Don’t know, but what a find!!
aug 25, 2025, 3:17 am • 0 0 • view
I don’t know what it is, but it’s lovely.
aug 25, 2025, 6:59 am • 1 0 • view
It has a truly beautful look to it, after your mother's hard work :)
aug 25, 2025, 10:08 am • 0 0 • view
looks vaguely aquatic
aug 25, 2025, 3:16 am • 0 0 • view
fish?
aug 25, 2025, 3:17 am • 3 0 • view
Something with pectoral fins but no anal or adipose fin (both on salmon). fishing.tas.gov.au/ContentImage...
aug 25, 2025, 6:10 pm • 1 0 • view
aug 25, 2025, 3:26 am • 13 0 • view
Looks like kwila wood (Intsia bijuga) from Papua New Guinea, so I'm inclined to think that's the culture the carvings are from. Lovely piece, enjoy it for a long time.
aug 25, 2025, 3:25 am • 2 0 • view
Yes, definitely. Those are fish.
aug 25, 2025, 3:17 am • 3 0 • view
I always wondered what the tool was named that wood relief carvers used to mark backgrounds with dots.
aug 25, 2025, 3:19 am • 1 0 • view
Gouge, or awl. (Curved chisels.)
aug 25, 2025, 3:34 am • 1 0 • view
an awl I suppose (I know the crescent marks are a gouge)
aug 25, 2025, 4:41 am • 1 0 • view
they are so ordered though, they look like they'd be made with the tines of a fork or something
aug 25, 2025, 4:42 am • 1 0 • view
I see what you’re saying. Like tattoo forks.
aug 25, 2025, 5:13 am • 1 0 • view
Mid-century export from Philippines/Bali so says the all knowing AI
aug 27, 2025, 1:33 pm • 0 0 • view
That’s a beautiful thing - no idea of its likely provenance though
aug 25, 2025, 3:22 am • 1 0 • view
The style is Nordic/Viking or Celtic.
aug 25, 2025, 4:51 am • 0 0 • view
This sounds like a question for @isabellasegalovich.bsky.social, though I think she might not post here much...
aug 25, 2025, 3:19 am • 0 0 • view
It's fish.
aug 25, 2025, 3:26 am • 0 0 • view
Is there anything written on the back? Probably gone by now. Could be Mexican, but they used hardwoods. Could be European folk style - Baltic or Scandinavian.
aug 25, 2025, 4:50 am • 0 0 • view
My mother found it in a crumbling garden shed at the edge of a lakeside property my parents purchased from a retired Navy admiral near Norfolk VA in the early 1950s. She carefully cleaned it with paint remover and applied some sort of brown stain. I was with her when she found it.
aug 25, 2025, 4:06 am • 166 9 • view
Any idea on your navy admiral's history? If your parent's bought it in the '50s, that's 70 years right there. Maybe he picked up wood-carving and emulated the fish of one region in the style or with wood from another.
aug 25, 2025, 5:20 am • 0 0 • view
I'll show it to am archaeologist I know that specializes in Native American culture
aug 26, 2025, 12:31 pm • 0 0 • view
I think it’s Indonesian. My friend goes to Bali a couple of times a year to buy items for her shop. A lot of it is similar to that. Possibly mahogany or rosewood. Beautifully crafted I have to say
aug 25, 2025, 8:43 am • 1 0 • view
Do you know what kind of wood it is?
aug 28, 2025, 2:53 pm • 0 0 • view
I'm guessing - Hawaiian. The fins look like oars - Navy, Pearl Harbor posting.
aug 25, 2025, 4:29 am • 0 0 • view