Accession Number

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Material

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Acquired

PRM Source

Dimension

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Description

Oblong horn dish incised with linear and dot design there is a small perforation in the handle. [ZM 14/11/2005]

Publications History

Reproduced in black and white as figure 15 on page 8 of 'Haida Art in the Pitt Rivers Museum, Oxford, and the Rev. Charles Harrison', by June Bedford, in European Review of Native American Studies, Vol. XII, no. 2 (1998), pp. 1-10. Captioned as 'Athapascan horn ladle.' Bedford notes (p. 8) that it is 'very similar to the Cook voyage specimen in Vienna'. [JC 16 4 1999]

Longer Description

Oblong horn dish incised with linear and dot design there is a small perforation in the handle. The dish is made from a single piece of animal horn that has been steamed and moulded into shape. The bowl is relatively deep. The inside and outside are smooth, and both inside and outside are decorated with incised designs. On the outside of the dish are designs formed from two parallel lines with dashed marks along their lengths. On the inside of the spoon, a line with small scallop marks runs near the rim. There are periodic designs near the rim comprised of a line of squares, set at an angle. In the bowl of the dish are small circles with dots in the centre. Of the two shorter sides of the dish, one comes to a point and the other extends higher than the sides and is square. The higher end forms a kind of handle. There is a small perforation in this end. The rim of the spoon on either side of the squared end is incised with cross-hatching. The spoon is a brownish colour with the grain of the horn clearly visible. [CAK 19/04/2010]

Primary Documentation

Accession book entry (for 1891.49.62 - .71): From Rev. Ch. Harrison, 80 Halton Rd, Canonbury Sq. N. Collection of Haida objects collected by him.... - [1 of] 10 horn dishes. £45. [Purchase price includes 1891.49.1-110]

Accession book entry [Red numbers] - Containers other than pottery 104 A - L - (104.I.11). Dish for grease and berries, somewhat similar to the last in shape [i.e. 'somewhat boat-shaped'], but more irregular and with the under surface decorated with carving, inside also very slightly decorated; the handle end cut off square, not thickened. Haida, Queen Charlotte Id. Obtd. by Rev. C. Harrison. Purchased from him 1891.

No additional information on catalogue cards. [JC 4 9 1996]

Written on object - [on inside of bowl] 104.I.11; [on outside of bowl] 104.I.11 DISH FOR GREASE AND BERRIES. HAIDA. C.HARRISON COLLN. PURCHASED 1891. [CAK 05/05/2009]

Related Documents File - June Bedford has pointed out the stylistic similarities between this bowl and other examples identified as Athapaskan; see her letter dated 30 April 1997. [JC 5 5 1997] [MOB 25/9/2001]

Related Documents File - The Haida Project Related Documents File contains video of research sessions and interviews with Haida delegates from September 2009 as part of the project ‘Haida Material Culture in British Museums: Generating New Forms of Knowledge'. It also includes post-visit communications that discuss object provenance. For extensive photographic, video, and textual records documenting the Haida research visit as a whole, including but not limited to preparations of objects for handling, travel logistics, British Museum participation, transcribed notes from research sessions and associated public events held at PRM, see the Haida Project Digital Archive, stored with the Accessions Registers. Original hand-written notes taken during research sessions have been accessioned into the Manuscripts collection, in addition to select other materials. [CAK 02/06/2010]

Research Notes

The following information comes from Haida delegates who worked with the museum's collection in September 2009 as part of the project “Haida Material Culture in British Museums: Generating New Forms of Knowledge”:
This bowl was viewed alongside other horn and wood dishes on Wednesday Sept 9, 2009. This dish shares similar characteristics with 1891.49.63, .65, .66, and 1891.49.69. Lucille Bell observed that the holes in these dishes may function in the same way as the holes in the handles of spoons, along the dishes to be hung on a wall when not in use. Diane Brown wondered if the hole in the dish indicated where a rivet would have been, and that the dish was actually a spoon missing its handle. Gwaai Edenshaw offered that rivets were used after something had been broken, and that originally they would have been one piece. Delegates wondered if these scoop-shaped horn vessels were used for drinking out of. Christian White observed that the small circle with central dot could relate to octopus suckers, and further that the octopus is related to shamans. Nadine Wilson observed that there are some similarities between the incised markings on this vessel and the pattern called box within a box from Raven's tail weaving, however, the elements incised in the spoon are too close together for it to be box within a box. Kwiaahwah Jones thought the design on this vessel is a post-contact design, reminiscent of a cribbage board, or made to look like a china plate. Nika Collison also thought the designs recalled early cribbage boards, and like Nadine, thought there may be influences from weaving patterns in the carving. Diane Brown thought the markings were unusual, but that she had seem similar examples in ivory. For some delegates, the overly geometric designs made them wonder whether the dish was Haida or not. They associated the geometric designs with First Nations living in southern British Columbia. Gwaai Edenshaw wondered if some of the markings could have been used as a tally to keep track of the number of feasts given by the spoon's owner. Kwiaahwah Jones noted that in the biography of Florence Edenshaw Davidson, 'During My Time' by Margaret Blackman, Florence describes soup vessels and drinking vessels and that each person would have their own ladle that they would bring to feasts with them. [CAK 19/04/2010]

Although the object is listed as a dish, it may be the ladle portion of a spoon given its overall shape and perforation near its upper end. The perforation may indicate where the handle would have been attached. [CAK 05/05/2009]

The cultural group listing ?NW Subarctic has been removed as we know Harrison was living on Haida Gwaii and collecting material from Haidas, predominantly in Old Massett. [CAK 05/05/2009]