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Description

Spruce-root basketry hat with crest design painted in red and black. [JN 10/9/2001]

Longer Description

Spruce-root basketry hat with crest design painted in red and black. The crown of the hat is done in a fine three-twine weave, using a Z-twist. There is a single row of S-twist weaving for the downturn. Midway down the hat, there is a braided border and the area beneath it is woven in a concentric diamond pattern. Inside the hat is an inner band woven from coarse spruce root to hold the hat on the wearer's head. On the top of the hat is a four-pointed design painted in red. [CAK 09/04/2010]

Display History

Exhibited in Basketmakers: Meaning and Form in Native American Baskets at PRM (16 June 1992 to May 1993). [? LMM, undated / JC 4 9 1996]

Put on permanent display in 'Rank, Status And Prestige On The Northwest Coast Of America' in 1996, with the following caption: 'Hat. Haida. Woven spruce-root hats of this general form with crest designs painted on their surfaces were common along the entire Northwest Coast. The production of such hats was often a collaborative effort between male and female artists, the weaving being done by women and the crest painting by men. Both men and women continue to wear such hats on special occasions. Collected by Rev. Charles Harrison and purchased from him in 1891.' [JC 5 9 1996]

Publications History

Referred to ('a hat of the quality one might easily attribute to Edenshaw') on p. 9 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. [JC 16 4 1999]

Illustrated in colour on page 91 of Basketmakers: Meaning and Form in Native American Baskets, edited by Linda Mowat, Howard Morphy and Penny Dransart (Oxford: Pitt Rivers Museum, University of Oxford, Monograph 5, 1992). See also page 47 of 'Northwest Coast Baskets in the Pitt Rivers Collection', by Andrea Laforet, in the same volume, pp. 37-49. [JC 4 9 1996]

Illustrated with a line drawing in the leaflet 'Basketry in The Pitt Rivers Museum', devised by Felicity Wood with the Oxfordshire Basketmakers, 2001. It is also featured on the website www.basket.prm.ox.ac.uk [JN 14/11/2001]

Primary Documentation

Accession book entry: 'From Rev. Ch. Harrison, 80 Halton Rd, Canonbury Sq. N. Collection of Haida objects collected by him.... - Hat ... of spruce work. £45 [Purchases price includes 1891.49.1-110]
Added Accession Book Entry - Painted red and black with the totemic device - Hooyeh the Raven. [? LMM, undated]

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

Old Pitt Rivers Museum label - Put on permanent display in 'Rank, Status And Prestige On The Northwest Coast Of America' in 1996, with the following caption: 'Hat. Haida. Woven spruce-root hats of this general form with crest designs painted on their surfaces were common along the entire Northwest Coast. The production of such hats was often a collaborative effort between male and female artists, the weaving being done by women and the crest painting by men. Both men and women continue to wear such hats on special occasions. Collected by Rev. Charles Harrison and purchased from him in 1891.' [JC 5 9 1996]

Written on object - SPRUCE ROOT HAT WITH TOTEMIC DEVICE 'HOOYEH' THE RAVEN. HAIDA. C. HARRISON COLLN PURCHASED 1891. [MJD 17/08/2009]

Pitt Rivers Museum label Now in Related Documents File - NW COAST HAIDA Spruce root hat, painted with Hooyeh the Raven Purch. Rev.C. Harrison [LKG 02/10/2009]

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]

Related Documents File - Old Pitt Rivers Museum label - Spruce root hat with totomic device, 'Hooeh' the Raven. Haida. C. Harrison Colln. Purchased 1891.' [MOB 25/9/2001]

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 hat was viewed alongside other articles of clothing and regalia on Friday Sept 11, 2009. The weavers and women in the group were particularly excited by this hat, though all delegates identified it as an accomplished example of weaving. Candace Weir noted the top half of the hat was particularly finely woven and that the hat would be water proof. There are unique weaving elements in this hat and Kwiaahwah Jones and Nika Collison were able to deconstruct various aspects of the hat. The band and hat are both woven from spruce root, although the band on the inside of the hat is made from a much coarser root than the hat itself. Nika Collison thought it was a nice touch that the band was woven from roots rather than being furnished by a textile. The weaving is double-warped and is three-twine from the top to the mid-section (it is unclear how many twine are in the border). The top of the hat is done in a Z-twist, a common Haida weaving technique, but then the down turn is one row of an S-twist, which is not a Haida technique. Kwiaahwah Jones wondered if the S-twist could be used as a signature to identify the weaver. There is also a very fine braided border separating the upper half of the hat from the lower half. The lower half of the hat was identified by one delegate as being done in a dragon fly pattern, and by another delegate as the slug-trail design. Kwiaawah Jones noted that, with regards to the diamond pattern on the lower half of the hat, that there are different meanings if the outer diamonds connect with one another than if they are separate. She suggested that it would be helpful for the museum to make a note of exactly how many diamonds are in the pattern. In terms of the painted design, delegates had a number of suggestions but thought it was rather ambiguous. Christian White thought the painting resembled a sea bear. Kwiaahwah Jones thought one of the design elements represented Kuugin Jaad (or Mouse Woman) as the tail of a killer whale. Nika Collison thought the painted design was a dragon fly. Delegates noted that the design painted on the top of the hat could be used as a signature of the painter. In the recorded notes, there is some discrepancy about how weavers would achieve the flare in a hat. With regards to hats in general, Kwiaahwah Jones said that achieving a wider bottom section was achieved by using thicker material, but did not require the addition of more warps. With regards to this hat in particular, Nika Collison observed that on the underside of the hat it was possible to see where more roots were added to create the flare. Nika Collison requested as many detailed photographs of the hat as possible and commented that the weaver was highly skilled. Lots of delegates photographed themselves wearing this hat. There is footage of one group examining this hat on Tape 7, time 6:11, however there is no sound on the recording. The tape can be found in the Haida Project Related Documents File. [CAK 09/04/2010]

Item History

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