Blanket Item Number: 1924.5 from the MAA: University of Cambridge
Description
Chilkat blanket woven from black, cream and yellow wool of the Mountain goat and cedar bark. The blanket has a long fringe. Good.
Context
The original European tribal names and, where possible, current tribal names have both been given in separate GLT fields.; Chilkat blankets were the most prestigious item of chiefly ceremonial regalia on the Northwest Coast. Named after the Chilkat area of the Tlingit where the blanket making became concentrated it was thought to have originated amongst the Tsimshian. The blankets were woven only by women using mountain goat wool weft and cedar bark warp, and the design was supplied by men painted on a half blanket shaped board. There were various taboos surrounding the actions of women during this time to prevent the blanket becoming polluted and a failure. The design field was divided into three panels with the central panel containing the head of the creature, and the two sides its profile or body. This type of design enabled the wearer to show the creature to best effect, with its head occupying the back while the sides were draped over the arms. The dancers presented their backs to the audience revealing the face of the creature to best advantage. The designs on the blankets were highly abstract, distributive in style, with the identity of the crest creature hard to ascertain. In this way the wearer of the blanket could assert an identity for the creature as they themselves claimed new access to power or reiterated an old claim. Such assertions of identity and access to power through ambiguous designs reveals the importance of the speech component to establish meaning during ceremonies.The inherent ambiguity of the blanket designs enabled them to be traded without fear of alienating a crest from its owners, and consequently they were found throughout the northern coastal area.; Exhibited: New anthropological displays at CUMAA, wall case, object number 6,1991-.
Item History
- Made in British Columbia, Canada
- Received from Louis C.G. Clarke during 1924
What
- Name
- Blanket
- Identification Number
- 1924.5
- Type of Item
- blanket
- Material
- bark, cedar wood, wool and mountain goat horn
Who
- Culture
- Northwest Coast
- Received from
- Louis C.G. Clarke
Where
- Holding Institution
- MAA: University of Cambridge
- Made in
- British Columbia, Canada
When
- Acquisition Date
- during 1924
Other
- Keyword
- Clothing; Ceremonial Objects