Accession Number

Cultural Group

Material

Process

Region

Field Collector

Acquired

PRM Source

Keyword

Class

Description

Caribou or elk hide blanket with quillwork in V-shapes, painted Chilkat designs and rows of fringe. [CAK 06/04/2010]

Publications History

Reproduced in black and white as figure 16 on page 8 of 'Haida Art in the Pitt Rivers Museum, Oxford, and the Rev. Charles Harrison', by June Bedford, in European Review of Native American Studies, Vol. XII, no. 2 (1998), pp. 1-10. Captioned as '"Caribou" blanket with painted design.' Bedford notes (p. 8) that 'the painted design is very similar to the designs of the "elk skin cape" shown in Haida Art by George MacDonald'. Also: 'The addition of strips of quillwork on either side of the shaman's neck, perhaps lying along the shoulders when worn, is of interest and perhaps unique.' [JC 16 4 1999]

Related Collections

Canadian Museum of Civilization, acquired by George T Emmons c. 1900 for the Lord Bossom collection, identification number CMC VII-X-783 (S94-6729) [CAK 06/04/2010]

Longer Description

Caribou or elk hide blanket with quillwork in V-shapes, painted Chilkat designs and rows of fringe. The blanket is made from a large rectangular section of hide. Along the top is a paler length of hide sewn on with sinew. Beneath the pale strip of hide are two V-shaped quillwork decorations. The v-shapes are formed from brown, black and white chequered bands of quill. At one of the V-shapes, a short length of leather has been tied onto the blanket, passing through the seam where the pale hide is attached to the darker hide. Extending down each side of the blanket are Chilkat designs painted in red, black and blue-ish green. There are three rows of fringe along the edge of each side. The fringe is made from cutting the hide into narrow sections. Each section is wrapped at the top with dyed grass (?or quill). On one side of the blanket the material wrapped around the fringe is a blue colour, on the other side is it white in colour. The bottom edge of the blanket is plain or 'unfinished'. A number of local repairs are evident throughout the blanket. The blanket is thought to have been worn by a steersman in a canoe or a shaman. [CAK 06/04/2010]

Primary Documentation

Accession book entry: 'From Rev. Ch. Harrison, 80 Halton Rd, Canonbury Sq. N. Collection of Haida objects collected by him.... - Cariboo hide blanket, ornamented. £45. [Purchase price includes 1891.49.1-110]

No additional information on catalogue cards. [JC 4 9 1996]

Written on object - Medicine Man's cariboo blanket. Haida. C. Harrison coll. Purchased 1891.

Related Documents File - For a discussion of the blanket see Tape 6, time 32:39 and Tape 7, time 22:30, and 25:00 in the Haida Project Related Documents File. The Haida Project Related Documents File contains video of research sessions and interviews with Haida delegates from September 2009 as part of the project ‘Haida Material Culture in British Museums: Generating New Forms of Knowledge'. It also includes post-visit communications that discuss object provenance. For extensive photographic, video, and textual records documenting the Haida research visit as a whole, including but not limited to preparations of objects for handling, travel logistics, British Museum participation, transcribed notes from research sessions and associated public events held at PRM, see the Haida Project Digital Archive, stored with the Accessions Registers. Original hand-written notes taken during research sessions have been accessioned into the Manuscripts collection, in addition to select other materials. [CAK 02/06/2010]

Research Notes

The following information comes from Haida delegates who worked with the museum's collection in September 2009 as part of the project “Haida Material Culture in British Museums: Generating New Forms of Knowledge”:
This robe was viewed alongside other garments on Friday Sept 11, 2009. Delegates drew a comparison between this robe and one in the collection of the Canadian Museum of Civilization (also featured in George MacDonald's book 'Haida Art' on page 18), however the one in the Canadian Museum of Civilization does not have quillwork on it. Christian White also reported seeing a fine example in Washington D.C. [presumably at the National Museum of the American Indian]. Delegates noted that Haidas do not have a tradition of tanning hides or processing leather. Natalie Fournier wondered if the owner was a well-travelled person who acquired this in their travels or commissioned it based on things they had seen. She believes the robe to be an early, though well-cared for, robe owned and handed down among Sgaaga or shaman. Alternatively, Christian White thought this robe would be worn by the steersman in a canoe. He remembered the Haida word for steersman paddle and commented that blankets would be traded for canoes. He thought the skin was made of elk and would have been traded for from the mainland. The skin was thought to have come from the Interior of British Columbia, from Plains Indians, or from Alaska as there is a tradition of quillwork there as well. The painting was identified as Haida, and more specifically it was suggested that it resembled Chilkat designs common among the Kaigani Haida. One delegate observed that there was a lack of transition elements in the painted design. Christian thought the individual elements of the design were difficult to make out, but thought it possible that it depicted a raven with feathers, wings and tail.
Nika Collison observed that the string used in the stitching is commercial string, thereby conferring a post-contact date on the blanket.
It was suspected that there was once a fur trim on the blanket, perhaps made from sea otter fur which does not tend to last for very long. The oval patchwork repair was thought to be deliberate. Ruth Gladstone-Davies noted that it was unusual to have fringe on a blanket. Kwiaahwah Jones suspected the red vermillion colour came from China. She also thought the blue-ish hue was more likely to have been green originally because blue colours tend not to fade as much as the painting on this blanket has. Gaahlaay (Lonnie Young) identified the stitching at the top of the blanket as sinew. Kwiaahwah Jones identified the material wrapped around the fringing as dyed green grass.
Lucille Bell indicated that the unfinished edge is the bottom of the blanket, similar to button blankets.
Discussion of the blanket can be viewed on Tape 6, time 32:39 and Tape 7, time 22:30, and 25:00, which can be found in the Haida Project Related Documents File. [CAK 06/04/2010]

A similar blanket identified as an elkskin cape is featured on page 18, and discussed on page 19 of George MacDonald's book Haida Art, published in 1996 by the Canadian Museum of Civilization (CMC). The Chilkat painting on the blanket in the book is very similar to, though perhaps not as finely executed as this one. The CMC identified the design as representing the killer whale, and notes that these kinds of capes "were especially popular among the Kaigani Haida and commonly bore this identical design, perhaps symbolizing an honorary rank like captain of a war canoe." [CAK 06/04/2010]

Previous long description: Caribou hide blanket, possibly worn over the shoulders of a shaman or chief as a cloak. Ornamented with with two vertical bands of painted decoration in red, green and black at either side. At one edge are two V-shaped bands of brown and white checquered quillwork sewn onto the blanket. Both sides of the blanket have three layers of fringe. Base of fringe is bound in white quill on one side and blue quill on the other. It is thought that the blanket complete with the fringe and quillwork came from elsewhere and was later painted with the Haida design, due to the fact that the Haida did work in quill. [NM 11/3/97]