Description

Irregular oval bowl made of horn of mountain goat horn, with incised patterning around rim. [BR 'DCF 2004-2006 What's Upstairs?' 13/12/2004]

Longer Description

Irregular oval bowl made of horn of mountain goat, with incised patterning around rim. The bowl is made from mountain goat horn which has been steamed and moulded into shape. The base is oval and flat and measures 88 mm in length, and 58 mm in width. The long sides extend upwards from the base and outward slightly, with a slight flair near the rim. The ends extend outward, upward and are flared more noticeably. The bowl is undecorated on the outside. The inside bowl has a double rim at the top, forming two rows of short, straight, parallel incised lines travelling the perimeter of the bowl. Below the rim, the bowl is smooth except for natural features in the horn. The rim is lopsided in some places, creating an irregular shape. [CAK 29/04/2009]

Primary Documentation

Accession Book Entry - 'MRS H. G. BEASLEY, WHITE BARN, SUNNINGDALE, BERKS. Specimens from the Cranmore Museum... - ALASKA. Bowl made of horn of mountain sheep. Oval. L. 26.5 cm. Crake coll. 1904. (8.7.1930)'
Additional Accession Book Entry - 'Obtd. from the Butler Museum, Harrow-on-the-Hill'

Pre-PRM label - Bowl made from horn of Mountain Sheep, Alaska Crake Collection 1904. [CAK 29/04/2009]

Old Pitt Rivers Museum label - BEASLEY COLLECTION. d.d. Mrs H.G.Beasley. ALASKA 1954.9.95 8-7-1930. Ex:- CRAKE COLLECTION. 1904. [BR 'DCF 2004-2006 What's Upstairs?' 13/12/2004]

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 bowls on Wednesday Sept 9, 2009. Gaahlaay (Lonnie Young) identified the material as mountain goat horn. Diane Brown commented that the bowl feels 'Really, really old. Ancient.' Jaalen Edenshaw identified a similarity between the parallel vertical lines around the edge of the bowl with those seen on canoes and argillite carvings. [CAK 21/05/2010]
This object was viewed and tentatively identified 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, 24/01/2008]