Stone Paint Dish

Item number E89022-0 from the National Museum of Natural History.

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Notes

This object is on loan to the Anchorage Museum at Rasmuson Center, from 2010 through 2027.From card: "Paper labels inside dish read: "No 47 Paint dish, Haida, Skidigate $1 Sep 1883 J. G. Swan. No 47. This very fine specimen was purchased at Skidigate Queen Charlotte Island Sep 1883 for $1.00 J. G. Swan"."Source of the information below: Smithsonian Arctic Studies Center Alaska Native Collections: Sharing Knowledge website, by Aron Crowell, entry on this artifact http://alaska.si.edu/record.asp?id=629 , retrieved 5-21-2012: Paint Dish, Haida. This stone dish from Skidegate was used for blending oil-based colors to apply to the body and face, or for mixing paints to use on hats, masks, boxes, and other work. For the latter purpose, crushed salmon eggs were added as a fixative. Charcoal, roasted tree fungus, ocher, cinnabar, and berry juices were among the common coloring materials. The bottom of the dish is carved with a Sea Bear and Killer Whale, both crests of the Raven moiety.