Button Blanket Item Number: 25.0/274 from the The Burke: University of Washington
Exhibit Label
The copper theme is a favorite with Kwakwaka'wakw artists. Representations of coppers are used as grave monuments, housefront paintings, and other objects, including button blankets. The button blanket is the traditional ceremonial blanket of the Kwakwaka'wakw. The general form is fairly uniform, with variations in the figures represented and in the details of the border designs. Most have as foundation a dark blue blanket, but green is not uncommon. All the materials in button blankets are products of trade. (Holm, Crooked Beak of Heaven, 1972)
Automatically Generated From Material
The wool is red and green. The button is abalone.
Item History
- Received from Mrs. Anne Gerber
What
- Name
- Button Blanket
- Identification Number
- 25.0/274
- Type of Item
- button blanket
- Material
- trade cloth, wool, cloth, button, abalone shell and burlap
- Manufacturing Technique
- sewn and appliqued
- Overall
- length 51.0 in, width 69.0 in
Who
- Culture
- Kwakwaka'wakw
- Received from
- Mrs. Anne Gerber
Where
- Holding Institution
- The Burke: University of Washington
Other
- Credit
- Sidney Gerber Collection, Gift of Anne Gerber
- Motif
- Coppers | Whale
- Collection
- Burke Museum Ethnology Collection