“DONALD ELLIS, a leading dealer in Native American objects, is so excited about what he is exhibiting at New York’s Winter Antiques Show he looks as if he might break into a ceremonial dance himself. He gestures to what he describes as “among the most extraordinary objects I’ve owned in my 34-year career.” You needn’t be an expert to understand the power of these pieces, which include two 19th-century ritual masks made by Yup’ik-speaking Eskimos. One features a shaman astride a big wide-eyed seal; the other a large smiling face with a protruding open mouth. Both have arms stretched wide to welcome the spirits, and both are decorated with feathers. (Yes, American law forbids the sale of feathers from eagles and migratory birds; these masks recreate the effect with the plumage of domestic fowl, like swans and geese.) The third of Mr Ellis’s treasured objects is a carved caribou antler club from Northern British Columbia. The sculptor would seem to be influenced by the soaring abstract works of Brancusi, except that this piece was made in the 18th century.”

http://www.economist.com/blogs/prospero/2011/01/winter_antiques_show.