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Description

Small silver cylinder, engraved with scene of two figures, Raven and bracket fungus, in a canoe. [CAK 29/04/2009]

Longer Description

Small silver cylinder, engraved with scene of two figures, Raven and bracket fungus, in a canoe. Made from a single piece of silver that has been shaped (hammered?) into a cylinder and joined together. There are thin, plain sections at both the top and bottom of the cylinder. Next to these are thin rows or very short, carved lines that frame the scene. The scene features two figures in a Haida-style canoe (i.e. there is a well-defined bow). The hull of the canoe is plain, but the gunwales of the canoe are decorated along the entire length with small, parallel, vertical lines. At the back of the canoe is a humanoid figure with a very round head, two round eyes and a mouth. This may be a depiction of Raven. Its knees appear to be bent upwards, and its arms extend out to the sides, and then bend down at the elbows. Ribs appear visible on either side of the torso. In the front of the canoe is a creature with feathered wings, a very long slender snout with teeth, and a very long, striped or segmented projection out of the top of the head. This figure may be Fungus Man. In its heads, this figure holds a pointed harpoon or long arrow. The bow and stern of the canoe meet, under which is a flower-shaped figure with curved stem, round face, petals, and two round eyes and mouth. This may be a flower, or it may depict a chiton. The backdrop of the scene is filled with very fine cross-hatching. The cylinder has been placed on a cylinder of wood, which is in turn mounted on a small, flat, rectangular wooden base. The imagery on the cylinder is very similar to that found on other objects depicting the story of Raven travelling with Fungus Man, who spears chitons and attaches these to the earliest humans as genitalia, thereby distinguishing them as female (see Research notes for further details). This likely decorated a walking cane. [CAK 29/04/2009]

Primary Documentation

Accession Book Entry (Donations VIII) - 'H. BALFOUR Small silver cylinder, engraved with mythical scene (bird-headed harpooner in a boat), HAIDA, N. W. AMERICA.

Accession Book Entry (Balfour I) - 'Small silver cylinder, engraved with mythical scene ("bird-headed harpooner in a boat), HAIDA, N. W. AMERICA.

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

Pitt Rivers Museum label - [glued to the bottom of the mount] Silver cylinder engraved with mythological canoe scene HAIDA, N.W. AMERICA. Pres. by H. Balfour, 1929.; [on a tag attached to the object] 1929.7.1 C [the "C" is in blue]; [with object in bag] BRITISH COLUMBIA, HAIDA TRIBE Silver cylinder engraved with mythological canoe scene. H. Balfour, 1929. [CAK 29/04/2009]

Related Documents File - Discussion of this object can be viewed on Tape 6, times 2:20 and 15:11, within the Haida Project 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

This object was viewed and confirmed as Haida by tribal members Vincent Collison, Lucille Bell, and Kwiiawah Jones on 7 September 2007 in preparation for a planned Haida community visit to PRM in 2009 [L Peers, 21/01/2008]

This object may be part of a cane. A similar example can be found on pg 118 of Steven C Brown's book Native Visions (1998 Seattle Art Museum, University of Washington Press: Seattle) in which an engraved silver cylinder is placed between the wooden shaft of the cane and the carved ivory finial. [Cara Krmpotich 27/03/2009]

A similar scene appears on two argillite plates carved by Charles Edenshaw and illustrated and explained within the exhibition catalogue for "Raven Travelling: two centuries of Haida art", held at the Vancouver Art Gallery. The plates are illustrated on pages 94-95 of the catalogue (as Figures 67 and 68) and explained on page 96: Peter McNair (a well-respected Northwest Coast art historian) writes, "Haida artists, notably Charles Edenshaw, used argillite to present mythic narratives on chests, plates, compotes and platters. Of considerable significance are two plates (figures 67 and 68) that illustrate an episode from the Raven cycle. When they first emerged from a clamshell humans were neither male nor female. To differentiate them, Raven set out in his canoe, steered by trusty Fungus Man, to spear chitons, which he then placed on the unsexed proto-women to create female genitalia."

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 cylinder was viewed alongside other objects of personal adornment on Friday Sept 11, 2009. Delegates clarified that this was not a ring to be worn on the finger, as it would not allow the finger to bend. Rather, it is part of a cane. Diane Brown recalled seeing a cane where similar silver cylinders were stacked along its length. Another delegate suggested it would be located where the two parts of a cane join together, and Christian White suggested it was the top of a cane. The story depicted on the cylinder was described as one of the Raven travelling stories, Gaaw Gwaii (Kaw Gwaay), which is the story of how Raven gave women their reproductive organs. Kwiaawah Jones remembered that Terri-Lynn [Williams] tells a very good version of this story. Christian White clarified that the figure in the stern is bracket fungus man, and that Raven is half bird half man. He did not know the signification of the flower figure. One delegate thought this cylinder was carved by Charles Edenshaw. Discussion of this object can be viewed on Tape 6, time 2:20 and 15:11, which can be found in the Haida Project Related Documents File. [CAK 18/05/2010]