"This is a steam-bent box. All three corners are kerfed, steamed and bent into a box shape. In the old days, a box like this would not only hold treasures of a Chief, but they would also be used for trade; filled with food and traded off to other native people up and down the coast.

The  lid is solid piece of old growth red cedar. The design on this box is Raven, and the reverse side is raven also, just looking at him from the backside. This type of box, I believe, is one of the reasons why our two-dimensional style of art spread up and down the coast, from our area and from central British Columbia it spread up to Alaska and down into southern British Columbia, because of its use as a trade item. A box like this though, as finely decorated as it is, would more likely be kept by a Chief, keeping dance robes and finer regalia."