Bentwood Bowl Item Number: 1-1779 from the The Burke: University of Washington

Exhibit Label

An undulating rim defines a bowl. Typically, the sides bulge, and are hollowed inside, leaving an overhanging rim. On this bowl the rim is rather narrow, and the sides only moderately swelling. Bentwood bowls are usually made of hard wood--yew, alder, or maple. Their bottoms, for some reason always of red cedar, are fitted with a carefully carved rabbet joint and sewn and pegged on. Bowl wood usually becomes saturated with oil; consequently, most bowls that have had long use, including this one, have lost the paint that originally accented them. (Holm, Spirit and Ancestor, 1987)