Wooden Mask, from a grave with strands of human hair
Item number E76855-0 from the National Museum of Natural History.
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Notes
From card: "See: Proc. U.S.N.M., V. 15, (1892), Pl. 24, p. 221. The two eyes on this mask are Chinese coins (temple coins?); human hair fringe; opercula for teeth. Bears tag: 'Mask. Mythological being.' Illus.: Hndbk. N. Amer. Ind., Vol. 7, Northwest Coast, Fig. 6, pg. 123. Loan: R. H. Lowie Museum 12/31/64, Retd.: Feb. 15, 1966. Loan: Whitney Museum of American Art, Sept. 10, 1971, Retd: 2-9-72. LoanL Crossroads Sep 22, 1988. Loan Returned: Jan. 21, 1993. Illus. Crossroads of Continents catalogue; Fig. 442, p. 307." Identified in Crossroads catalogue: "the staring eyes in this old shaman's mask are made of large bronze Chinese 'temple coins' embossed with dragon and foliate forms. ... (coins possibly acquired from shipwreck or trade). In any case, they do well as mystic eyes in the round hollow sockets of a beaked humanoid spirit face, grinning with power."Catalogue card identifies object as from Sitka, however, on p. 221 of "Chinese Relics in Alaska" by T. Dix Bolles, in Proceedings of the U.S. National Museum, Vol. 15, No. 899, 1892, Bolles talks about the provenance of this mask: "The grave from which it was taken is located near the Chilkat Village at the mouth of the Chilkat River, Alaska, where stand a row of six gravehouses on a narrow strip of land close to the river, with a swamp back of them. ... The grave ... was pointed out to me as being old and that of a medicine man who had flourished more than two hundred years ago, six successors having filled this office; each one living to a good old age."This object is on loan to the Anchorage Museum at Rasmuson Center, from 2010 through 2027.
Item History
- Made in Alaska, USA
- Collected by Lt. U S N Timothy D. Bolles in Alaska, USA
- Received on January 4, 1886
What
- Name
- Wooden Mask, from a grave with strands of human hair
- Identification Number
- E76855-0
Where
- Holding Institution
- National Museum of Natural History
- Made in
- Alaska, USA
- Collected in
- Alaska, USA
Who
- Culture
- Tlingit and Chilkat
- Field Collector
- Lt. U S N Timothy D. Bolles
When
- Acquisition Date
- on January 4, 1886
Other
- Accession Number
- 017057
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