Figures of women in the fashion of the day appear around the middle of the nineteenth century in panel pipe groups and as single figures. They are usually thought to represent white women, but some may depict Haida women in European dress which they were beginning to adopt at the time. (Holm, Crooked Beak of Heaven, 1972)

Many round plates such as this one were made in the mid-nineteenth century, very often with this kind of geometric and floral decoration. Some of the inspiration for these plates probably came from English tableware of the time, and certain of the motifs may derive from scrimshaw designs developed by American whalers, especially the wheel-like rosette, which has been likened to the jagging wheels made by the scrimshanders. The plates, like almost all argillite carvings, were purely decorative and were not intended for use. (Holm, Crooked Beak of Heaven, 1972)

Early in the argillite carving tradition, Haida artists began experimenting with exotic subject matter. At the time this pipe was carved, it was becoming popular to combine native Haida themes with figures and motifs that were part of the strange new world being opened by traders and seamen. The foreigners themselves became the subjects, and their accoutrements and equipment, even their ships, found places in this art form. (Holm, Crooked Beak of Heaven, 1972)