Pipe Item Number: 1927.252 from the MAA: University of Cambridge
Description
Broken fragment of a panel pipe bearing nonsensical creatures. The uppermost creature has a large toothy mouth, a rudimentary fin and its blowhole forms the pipe bowl, its fish-like body extends towards the mouthpiece. Below another creature, with unusual rounded eyes and a long thin tongue, appears to lack a body. The feathered back and long fingered arms and legs of a broken creature extends along the base of the pipe fragment. This pipe could possibly be the work of the Haida artist known as Long Fingers due to this characteristic of his style.(Gillian Crowther).; Good
Context
The original European tribal names and, where possible, current tribal names have both been given in separate GLT fields.; The style and subject matter of this object conforms to those of the First Period of argillite carving, 1800-1835, the so-called period of Haida non-sense . The carvings are typically ceremonial pipes and Panel pipes, depicting ambiguous creatures that on first glance appear to resemble crest animals but on closer examination are revealed to be non-sensical combinations of characteristics. The reason for this subversion of crest designs is possibly because at this time the giving away of crest bearing objects was antithetical to Haida social and cultural beliefs. This was because attendant on the ownership of a crest was a variety of resources and privileges which could not be jeopardised by a counter claim to access communicated by ownership of a crest bearing object. To own a crest bearing object communicated a legitimate claim to the attendant resources, therefore to give away such objects was not sanctioned (G.Crowther). (The time periods of argillite carvingare derived from Carol Sheehan' s Pipes That Won' t Smoke; Coal That Won' t Burn; Haida Sculpture in Argillite, 1981, Glenbow Museum: Calgary, and Peter Macnair and Alan Hoover' s The Magic Leaves, 1984, British Columbian Provincial Museum: Victoria.)
Item History
- Made in Queen Charlotte Islands (Haida Gwaii), British Columbia, Canada
- Received from Prof. Sir. William Ridgeway during 1927
Who
- Culture
- Haida
- Received from
- Prof. Sir. William Ridgeway
Where
- Holding Institution
- MAA: University of Cambridge
- Made in
- Queen Charlotte Islands (Haida Gwaii), British Columbia, Canada
When
- Acquisition Date
- during 1927
Other
- Keyword
- Art; Tourist Objects; Narcotics and Intoxicants