Bowl Item Number: 1929.156 from the MAA: University of Cambridge

Description

Small rectangular bowl with the characteristic undulating rim and identical bilaterally symmetrical decoration at both ends. The sides have parallel grooves at either end, and a groove following the edge of the rim. The bowl is dark coloured suggesting use and has traces of grease impregnating the wood. One end of the bowl has a split which has been crudely repaired using a metal staple. The decoration on the ends is highly abstract, possibly being an eagle, but more probably being deliberately ambiguous to allow an identity to be asserted by successive owners (G.Crowther).; Good

Context

An interesting feature of many of the northern area bowls is the grooves at either end of the sides. These grooves are a decorational legacy of the birch bark bowls made by neighbouring Athapaskans. The birch bark bowls had pleats at the corners, a functional feature which found a decorative equivalent in the wooden bowls of the Northwest Coast. The original European tribal names and, where possible, current tribal names have both been given in separate GLT fields.; Bowls were used at feasts and potlatches, the smaller ones containing oolichan grease, into which dried salmon and other foods were dipped, and larger ones containing other foodstuffs. Together with the decorated spoons of mountain-goat horn the bowls represented a tangible connection between the owners, the lineage, and the economic resources consumed during the feast or potlatch. The display of crest bearing objects underlined the power structure operating at ceremonial events, and demarcated them as significant and removed from everyday existence. The representations carved on some bowls are deliberately ambiguous, thereby allowing a crest identity to be asserted by each owner as the object is exchanged (G.Crowther).; Collected by: ?Watts.J.C in ?1889