An exceptional, small, double-handled Eastern Woodlands ash burl bowl with paper thin walls and open-work handles framed by stepped, incurvate castellations which appear as reductive interpretations of a water Manitou.

The line quality and craftsmanship are masterfully executed, Through an evolution of form, handles which were once more overtly carved to depict a water Manitou became greatly simplified and often seemingly vacant of the mythological spirit.

A related bowl at the Canadian Museum of Civilization has similarly defined incurvate leads to its handles. That bowl was brought to Canada during the American Revolution from the McGinniss family of Tryon County (now Montgomery), New York.