Bentwood Chest | Lid | Gambling

Item number 1-1559 from the The Burke: University of Washington.

Public

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Exhibit Label

This small chest has been identified as a gambler's box. If so, the box was probably intended to hold rolled skin containers and painted gambling sticks, the shredded cedar bark in which they were shuffled, and the mat under which the sticks were shuffled and on which they were thrown for display. On the other hand, the box is the size and shape of well-documented shamans' chests in which rattles, amulets, and other objects of the profession were kept. Whatever its use, this chest is a fine example of northern Northwest Coast art and craftsmanship from the early historic period. (Holm, Spirit and Ancestor, 1987)