Bentwood Box

Item number 1-1649 from the The Burke: University of Washington.

Public

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Exhibit Label

Square, bentcorner boxes were the principal furniture of northern Northwest Coast houses. Piled along walls and between bedroom partitions, they acted as shelves, seats, wardrobes, cupboards, pantries, containers for food and water, treasure chests, even urinals. Many were plain; some were painted only with red stripes up the corners. Those most oftwen seen in museums and private collections today are elaborately painted with formline designs and fitted with thick lids which are frequently studded with small white shells, the opercula of the red turban snail. (Holm, Spirit and Ancestor, 1987)