Exhibit Label

The custom among northern noble women of wearing a labret in the pierced lower lip excited the curiosity and disgust of early Euro-American visitors to the coast. In the long run, under the influence of Western civilization, the use of the labret died out, but examples of the ornament remain. This labret in the Burke Museum collection is of carved wood, bearing the figure of a whale in low relief on one face and abstract design elements on the other. A shallow groove runs around the sides to secure the labret in place in the lip. (Holm, Crooked Beak of Heaven, 1972)