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Description

Ladle made from horn of mountain sheep, carved with Raven holding the box of daylight. [CAK 18/03/2010]

Longer Description

Ladle made from horn of mountain sheep, carved with Raven holding the box of daylight. The bowl of the ladle is smooth and plain. The handle tapers as it extends up, away from the bowl. Both the front and back of the handle are carved. The tip of the handle forms the beak of the supernatural being Raven. Inside Raven's beak is a small object, the box of daylight. Two wings extend out from either side of the handle, just below Raven's head. Along the back of the spoon are a series of ridges, beneath which is a large ovoid design. This is followed by three rectangular shapes with a single ovoid shape inside each one. [CAK 18/03/2010]

Research Notes

See biography, although this is given as from TV Hodgson it was probably on behalf of the Plymouth Museum, other items are probably given by him from the museum though he was unnamed in the original accession book entries. Fiona Pitt of the Plymouth Museum has provided the following information about this object:
In terms of how Hodgson came to have the spoon and sell it to the Pitt-Rivers I'm afraid I've never come across any information regarding such transactions. As the entry in Pitt-Rivers register gives his public address of Plymouth Museum rather than his private address perhaps he was selling on a piece which was deemed to be surplus to the Plymouth Collections. If this was the case, then the most likely original collectors for this period would have been either Francis Brent, who donated a large amount of ethnographic material including material from the Vancouver area of the North West Coast, or Dr L.P. Metham who also donated North West Coast material. If the spoon was marked with any four figure numbers, possibly in red, then this would make it more likely that it was originally Plymouth Museum material rather than material which Hodgson had acquired privately. [AP 5/8/2003]

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 ladle was viewed alongside other horn and wood spoons on Wednesday Sept 9, 2009. This spoon generated a lot of discussion among delegates. The imagery on the spoon was recognised by Gwaai and Jaalen Edenshaw and confirmed by Diane Brown as telling the story of Kaw Gwaay. Jaalen recited the story to the group which explains the creation of female genitalia. The main figure on the ladle was repeatedly identified as Raven. The small square inside Raven's beak was described as the 'box of daylight', an element that appears in the series of stories about Raven's travels. Along the back of the handle is a series of ridges described as Raven's spine, although the potential for the ridges to be a chiton was also raised. This backbone element was described as unusual. At the base of the handle are three incised lines that were described as Raven's claw. Other delegates identified this feature as both claw and tail. The name of the artist was unknown, however it was thought that the artist would be easy to identify because he used a very distinctively shaped ovoid at the base of the handle: it has a single incised line in the centre of an ovoid ring with a thick border around it. The ovoid with the split line in the centre was also thought to be similar to the carving found on one of the wood bowls. Likewise, the ridges around the edge of the spoon were likened to the ridges found on other bowls and dishes in the collection. One delegate proposed that because of the variation in the carving style within this spoon (i.e. the carving is more deeply gouged and incised in some areas), that it could be the work of two artists. [CAK 13/05/2010]

Primary Documentation

Accession Book Entry - Dec T. V. HODGSON, Esq., The Museum, Plymouth. Large ladle made from horn of mountain-sheep, carved with totemic design (?raven or "thunder-bird"), Haida, Brit. Columbia. Pd. petty cash Jan. 10, 1911 £1-0-0

There is no further information on the catalogue card. [CW 9 6 98]

Written on object - HAIDA, BRITISH COLUMBIA. Purch. 1910 (Hodgson) [CAK 05/05/2009]

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]