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Description

Wooden transformation mask in the form of a raven with beak that opens to expose a female face inside with a crooked nose and labret. [CAK 24/08/2009]

Related Collections

PRM Photo 1998.387.16

Longer Description

Wooden transformation mask in the form of a raven with beak that opens to expose a female face inside with a crooked nose and labret. The mask is edged with feathers and fur and there is a red human figure with blue face, jointed arms and pale hair that stands upright on the top of the mask. [CAK 24/08/2009]
Wood and feather mask depicting the raven as 'Creator' and 'the Wanderer'. The mask is articulated with strings, so that it can be closed up [to show the beaked raven] or open [to reveal a human face]. [JN 17/3/2003]
The wood used for the mask appears to be Western Red Cedar after examination of the grain characteristics. The mask has been carved in different sections and then assembled round a thick square wooden backing plate. The two sides of the Raven's beak have been attached to the backing plate by the use of a thick leather hinge. The beak sections are attached to the leather with string and the leather to the backing plate with metal nails. Nails have also been used to attach the fur trim to the top of the beak sections and the bird skins to the sides and top of the backing plate. A more intricately carved wooden mask of a human face is nailed to the backing plate and is only revealed when the Ravens beak is opened. Strings are attached to the beak in two places and also to a figure fitted to the top of the backing plate with a metal hinge. The strings run through to the rear of the backing plate where they would be used to articulate the various moving sections of the mask. When not in use the strings are retained within a bracket of copper alloy and thick leather, which are attached to the backing plate with metal nails. Feathers thought to be from an immature male or female snowy owl due to the brown flecks in the otherwise white feathers (see Research Notes below). The type of fur is unknown. The colours used to paint the mask are black, red and jade green. [HR 3/10/2005]

Display History

Loaned to the Art Gallery & Museum, Kelvingrove, Glasgow, for their exhibition Home of the Brave (14 May 1992 to 28 September 1992). [? LMM, undated]

Loaned to the Vancouver Art Gallery, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada for the exhibition Raven Travelling: Two Centuries of Haida Art from 10 June to 17 September 2006; see below for details of accompanying publication. [LP 10/04/2006, JN 18/4/2006, JC 7 7 2006]

Display label current at 11/2007 'CANADA, BRITISH COLUMBIA, HAIDA GWAII; HAIDA. A ‘transformation' mask carved by Charles Edenshaw (1839–1924) of Masset. The mask portrays Raven both as Creator and as transformed into a human noblewoman wearing a labret. Collected by the Reverend Charles Harrison in the 1880s and purchased from him in 1891; 1891.49.8. Charles Edenshaw (1839–1924) is one of the great masters of Haida art. Master carver Jim Hart, one of Edenshaw's descendant who holds the chiefly title 7idansuu (‘ee-dan-soo'), made a version of Edenshaw's Raven transformation mask from a drawing in an old book. Hart's mask was made to be worn on the face, but as Edenshaw's mask is not hollowed at the back it may have been held above the dancer. Complex wire rigging was used to make the mask open and close and to make the human figure on top bow and raise his hands. ' [MdeA 3/9/2007]

Primary Documentation

Accession book entry: 'From Rev. Ch. Harrison, 80 Halton Rd, Canonbury Sq. N. Collection of Haida objects collected by him.... - Large Mask = Raven as 'Creator' & the 'Wanderer'. £45. [Purchase price includes 1891.49.1-110]

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

Written on object - Mask used in ghost dances, representing Raven as creator, with small figure of the 'Wanderer'. Haida. C. Harrison Colln, (MS No. 11). Purch 1891. [DCF Court Team 14/4/2003]

Related Documents File - Correspondence between Jeremy Coote and June Bedford occurring in April 1999 regarding some confusion over this mask and several others. [MOB 25/9/2001]

Related Documents File - A lengthy discussion of this mask can be viewed on Tape 3, time 0:01 to 14:00, as well as a shorter segment on Tape 2, time 38:10 to 38:41. The tapes are in the Haida Project Related Documents File which 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]

Publications History

Discussed by Charles Harrison on p. 86 of his Ancient Warriors of the North Pacific (London: H.F. and G. Witherby, 1925): 'The Ni-kils-tlas was the most important, inasmuch as it represented that important creature the Raven, the mythological beliefs regarding which have already been described. The mask depicted the raven's head with an Indian standing on top and a human face in miniature in the centre of the forehead. The symbolism it was intended to convey being the raven as the creator or perhaps the original ancestor of man and the raven's male slave.' [NM 25 2 1997]

Reproduced in black and white as figure 2 on page 5 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. Bedford also illustrates (same figure number) the drawings by Rudolf Weber reproduced by Swanton in 1905 (see below). Caption reads: 'The Ni-kils-tlas mask shut and open'. [JC 16 4 1999]

Photographed in 2006 by Julian Calder for the exhibition 'Raven Travelling: 200 years of Haida art' at the Vancouver Art Gallery, but copyright of these images assigned and retained by Pitt Rivers Museum. Julian Calder supplied the Museum with copies of the colour transparency and digital image, now CD43, which are stored with the object transparencies with Collections Management). [ZM 24/04/2006]

Drawings by Rudolf Weber reproduced as figure 20 on p. 145 of Contributions to the Ethnology of the Haida (Reports of the Jesup Expedition, Vol. V, part 1), by John R. Swanton (Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1905). Information from June Bedford. [JC 16 4 1999] NB It is Swanton who identified the maker of this mask as Charles Edenshaw: 'Fig.20 represents a mask made by Charlie Edenshaw of Masset, and now in the Museum at Oxford, Eng. The outer figure is Raven as a bird; the inner, Raven in human form. The small figure which folds down when the mask is closed indicated that the possessor of this mask, chief Edenshaw, was the greatest chief on the Queen Charlotte Islands' (Swanton 1905 p. 145). [Laura Peers 30/8/2005, based on work by PRM intern Barbara Bartl 2003]

See 'Tylor's Tongue: Material Culture, Evidence, and Social Networks', by Alison Brown, Jeremy Coote, and Chris Gosden, in JASO: Journal of the Anthropological Society of Oxford, Vol. XXXI, no. 3 (Michaelmas 2000), pp. 257-72. [JC 20 12 2002]

Illustrated in colour as figure 41 on page 70 of Raven Travelling: Two Centuries of Haida Art, by Daina Augaitis et al. (Vancouver: Vancouver Art Gallery / Vancouver and Toronto: Douglas & McIntyre / Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2006). Caption (same page) reads: 'Charles Edenshaw / Raven Transformation Mask, undated / wood, paint, feather, spruce root, hide / 55.5 x 94 x 55.5 / Pitt Rivers Museum, University of Oxford, no. 1891.49.8 / Photo: Julian Calder.' Also reproduced (same image, but detail only) on dustjacket. [JC 7 7 2006]

Research Notes

Note found in Beatrice Blackwood's lecture notes for Northwest Coast lectures, PRM Mss Collections: 'Haida double mask. P.R. Made by Charlie Edenshaw of Masset. The outer figure is Raven as a bird; the inner, Raven in human form. The small figure on top which folds down when the mask is closed, indicated that the possessor of this mask, Chief Edenshaw, was the greatest chief on the Queen Charlotte Islands.' Written on side of note is: Swanton. JNPE V p. 145. [LLP 20/8/2003]

Jim Hart, Haida master carver, made a version of this mask from a line drawing in Swanton. Hart's mask is in the collections of the Museum of Anthropology at UBC; it differs in several details from this version because he had not seen the Edenshaw version when he made his. Personal communication, Jim Hart to Laura Peers, November 2004.

Information from Bill Holm, email to Laura Peers, 2 September 2005: 'The great Edenshaw Raven Transformation mask I believe was probably made for sale and not for use. The fact that it is mounted on a board and really could not fit for use suggests that to me. Edenshaw made very few masks, at least I am unaware of more than a couple. '

Personal communication Professor Christopher Perrins [University of Oxford, Department of Zoology] to Laura Peers, September 2005. "Have done a quick check and am sure that the feet belong to Snowy Owl. Since the light coloured feathers are also, I think it is a fair bet that the all-white ones are too." Although this refers to the feathers found on mask 1891.49.7, Professor Perrins also looked at this mask and decided the feathers were also from a snowy owl but either a female or immature male due to the brown markings through the white feathers. [HR 30/9/2005]

The date of death for Charles Edenshaw was previously recorded as 1924, but according to Peter McNair this is now known to be 1920. [HR 5/7/2006]

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 mask was viewed alongside other masks on Thursday Sept 10, 2009. Gwaai Edenshaw considered this to be a masterpiece, an opinion that found support among all the delegates. Gwaai characterised the face inside the mask as being deeply carved, while the designs on the inside of the beak were referred to as a prime example of flat design. He described the painting as innovative. Christian White observed that the artwork was superb. Nika Collison noted that there are not many transforming masks around today that are Haida and that this is a particularly fine example. Jason Alsop offered that this mask is a great example of a transformation mask because it maintained both formline and a story. Compared to mask 1891.49.9, this mask shows a much higher level of artistic achievement and practice. He observed that from whatever angle the mask is viewed from, there is something to notice.
The materials were identified as yellow cedar, alder wood and snowy owl feathers. Christian White clarified that the back of the mask has two layers, one of which is alder. Christian noted that snowy owls are rare on Haida Gwaii, appearing about once every six years.
Some delegates offered that this mask was never meant to be worn because it is not hollow on the back. Christian White believed it was definitely a commissioned piece. Nika Collison responded with her opinion that the mask was danced and not made for sale. She believed it would not be as finely finished, nor as elaborate if made for sale alone. Christian White clarified that by ‘commissioned' he was referring to the historic practice amongst Haidas to commission masks, poles, and other regalia. It was proposed that the metal staple on the back could have been used to mount the mask on a post; the dancer would be cloaked in a blanket. Gwaai Edenshaw wondered if it was sold or purchased before it was danced.
After looking at the mast for a long time, Gwaai Edenshaw supported the attribution of the mask to Charles Edenshaw. Charles Edenshaw is Christian's great-grandfather, and Christian referred to him as an innovator in art. Charles was a Stastas eagle, whose uncle (Albert Edward Edenshaw) was well known for telling stories of Raven Travelling at potlatches.
Jaalen Edenshaw and Gwaai Edenshaw believed it possible that someone else had contributed to the painting as one half of the beak was not as polished as the other side. The side with more errors could be the work of an apprentice learning from Charles Edenshaw, or an attempt by Charles Edenshaw to save time (i.e. by hiring someone else to finish the piece).
The figure on the top of the mask signified the greatest chief according to Diane Brown and Christian White. [Cara Krmpotich note: could this be a reference to Albert Edward Edenshaw who deemed himself the greatest of Haida chiefs?]. Gaahlaay, Lonnie Young, identified the man on top as a traveller who wanted a ride. Nika Collison believed artist Jim Hart, who made his own mask based on a line-drawing of this one, connected this figure to a story from Raven Travelling that features a blind halibut fisherman.
The beak of the raven is made from four parts which allows it to both open and to ‘clap' (i.e. the bottom of the beak can clack against the top of the beak). Jaalen and Gwaai Edenshaw requested a photograph showing this.
A lengthy discussion of this mask can be viewed on Tape 3, time 0:01 to approximately 14:00. There is a short segment on Tape 2, time 38:10 to 38:41, where delegates express a desire to compare this mask with a bentbox before of similarities in design elements and iconography. Both tapes can be found in the Haida Project Related Documents File. [CAK 08/04/2010]

Item History

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