Helmet, Old Woman And Bird Mask

Item number E20575-0 from the National Museum of Natural History.

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Notes

FROM 19TH OR EARLY 20TH CENTURY EXHIBIT LABEL WITH CARD: "HELMET IN FOUR PARTS. THE LONGEST PIECE HAS IN REAR A CARVED HEMISPHERICAL CAP FOR HEAD OF WEARER, AND IN FRONT A CARVED REPRESENTATION OF EYES, UPPER JAW, AND MUZZLE OF A LARGE FROG. ON TOP ON EACH SIDE OF THIS HEAD ARE TWO PIECES, LIKE WINGS, CARVED, PAINTED, AND ORNAMENTED WITH TUFTS OF WHITE COARSE HAIR. THE LOWER JAW OF THE FROG IS ATTACHED TO UPPER WITH A HINGE-JOINT, AND IS CARVED AND PAINTED ON UNDER SURFACE TO REPRESENT A MAN'S FACE. WORN BY NATIVE INDIANS OF BELLA BELLA. LENGTH, 19 INS. WIDTH, 12 INS. HEIGHT, 14 INS. BRITISH COLUMBIA, 1876. 20,575. COLLECTED BY J. G. SWAN."Ian Reid (Heiltsuk), Clyde Tallio (Nuxalk) and Jennifer Kramer (anthropologist) of the delegation from Bella Bella, Bella Coola and Rivers Inlet communities of British Columbia made the following comments during the Recovering Voices Community Research Visit May 20th -24th, 2013. The sculpting and technique is classic Nuxalk style. The eyebrows are thick and it has a moon-shaped eye orbit. It looks to be some sort of sea creature and is made out of alder. The group believes the attribution as a frog mask in the exhibit label text (Note 1) is wrong, and also believes the mask is from Bella Coola, not Bella Bella.