Carved & Painted Mask

Item number E74338-0 from the National Museum of Natural History.

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Notes

Provenience note: collection apparently purchased or collected by McLean in Sitka and vicinity circa 1884.From card: "Wooden mask, human face with bird beak. Cut from the solid, carved and painted. Ears pegged on (now gone). Crack at side crudely repaired with two heavy iron staples. Recurved beak (hawk or eagle?). Cloud hat formerly pegged to top of crown now missing. Paint colors: vermillion, green, black. White shell teeth inserted in slots within upper and lower lips. Bore tag saying "Helmet, thunder bird, Klingit.""Florence Sheakley and Alan Zuboff, elders, made the following comments during the Tlingit Recovering Voices Community Research Visit, March 13-March 24, 2017. The hat may feature a hawk design, which only would have been used for war helmets because the Tlingit do not have any hawk designations for clans. This object looks like it has been repaired and used to have ears. This object may have been an early iteration of a later, more light weight hat.