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Description

Carved wooden labret or lip plug.; Good.

Context

Catalogue card gives a provenance of Haida or Tlingit. The original European tribal names and, where possible, current tribal names have both been given in separate GLT fields. Location given as Archaeology Drawer. After a period of seclusion at the onset of puberty young girls had their lower lips pierced and a small labret inserted, as a symbol of their assumption of a social role. The occasion of lip piercing was often marked by a small feast, or was part of the proceedings of potlatches. Through life a succession of larger labrets were inserted, culminating for the highest ranking women in the largest, elaborately inlaid wood labrets, known among the Tlingit as mouth stones . The larger labrets were made from wood which made them lighter and presumably easier to wear. In general the smaller sized labrets were universal for women of middle age and low rank, while the largest were worn by older high ranking women. The labrets were removed, but never in the presence of strangers. Many early European travellers accounts noted women wearing labrets and the reporting reveals that to European sensibilities the labrets were abhorrent. Since contact with European culture the tradition of wearing labrets has ceased. One of the masks in the CUMAA collection is a good example of a woman wearing a large labret, E 1911.25. Its collector, Heneage Wynn Finch noted the following in a letter Baron von Hugel: In the mask with the labret the teeth are represented by pieces of the shell of the haliotis, as you have doubtless noticed. I do not think any of the Alaskan Indian tribes at present wear the labret, at any rate none of the Indians I have seen in my visits there did. (G.Crowther).; Collected by: Swaine.Admiral.Spelman in ?- - 1791; ?- - 1792; ?- - 1793; ?- - 1794; ?- - 1795. Labret missing.
Literature: Also see the 'Catalogue of the Northwest Coast Collection: Cambridge University Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology' (1996), Dr Gillian Crowther. (J.Tanner, May 1998).
This item is probably 1842.20.2 in the Wisbech Museum records (J.Tanner, December 1998).
Vancouver Collection: George Vancouver (1758-1798) was born in King' s Lynn, Norfolk. His father, John Jasper Vancouver was assistant collector of customs at King's Lynn, which was at that time a busy seaport. It is believed that through his connections he was able to bring George to the attention of Captain James Cook, who was then preparing to sail on the second of his world voyages. Thus George entered the Royal Navy in 1771 upon receiving an appointment from Cook and thereby gained a rigorous training in seamanship. In 1791 Vancouver was sent on a mission to receive the surrender of the Spanish post at Nootka Sound in present day British Columbia, to survey the coast of the American Northwest, and to search for a water connection to the eastern part of the continent. He wrote a lengthy account of his voyage entitled, ' A Voyage of discovery to the North Pacific ocean, and Round the World' (1798). It was on this latter voyage that Spelman Swaine accompanied Vancouver and acquired the objects held at UCMAA. Spelman Swaine was born on 1st January 1769 at Lynn Regis in Norfolk and died on 13th January 1848 at Wisbech, Cambridgeshire. His forebears had risen from the ranks of yeoman farmers to gain land in the village of Leverington and build Leverington Hall about 1640, which was held by the family until the end of the 18th century. Swaine himself was brought up at Swanns, another mansion in Leverington, but later moved to Wisbech. He began his naval career in April 1782 and by the October he saw action as midshipman on the ' Recovery' in Lord Howe' s relief of Gibraltar. Thereafter, he lead an eventful and distinguished naval career, finally gaining the rank of Rear Admiral in 1846. In particular, the Swaine collection at UCMAA originates from his period with Captain George Vancouver' s expedition round the world between 1791 and 1795 on the HMS Discovery, as midshipman and later lieutenant. Swaine and his family gave a small but important collection from this voyage to Wisbech Museum, which were later acquired by UCMAA. (J.Tanner, 1999).