Raven Rattle Item Number: 951 from the The Burke: University of Washington
Exhibit Label
The raven rattle is a traditional part of the paraphernalia of a dancing chief, which also includes an elaborate headdress, a robe, an apron fringed with rattling pendants, and leggings. In use, the rattle was often held belly up in the dancer's extended hand and shaken rapidly and continuously throughout the dance. Occasionally rattles were used in pairs. Many of them were made, and there are a great number in museum and private collections. Most of these rattles depict ravens, but there are a few that represent other birds--hawks or thunderbirds, puffins or petrels among them. (Holm, Spirit and Ancestor, 1987)
Automatically Generated From Material
The paint is red and black.
Item History
- Received from George T. Emmons
What
- Name
- Raven Rattle
- Identification Number
- 951
- Type of Item
- raven rattle
- Material
- wood and paint
- Manufacturing Technique
- carved and painted
- Overall
- length 32.0 cm, width 11.5 cm, depth 12.0 cm
Who
- Culture
- Tlingit: Sitka
- Received from
- George T. Emmons
Where
- Holding Institution
- The Burke: University of Washington
Other
- Credit
- Purchased from George T. Emmons
- Motif
- Raven
- Collection
- Burke Museum Ethnology Collection