Accession Number

Cultural Group

Material

Process

Maker

Region

Field Collector

Acquired

PRM Source

Dimension

Keyword

Class

Description

Wooden mask of a female face with black hair parted in the centre, moveable eyelids, and labret carved on the chin. [CAK 24/08/2009]

Publications History

Reproduced in black and white as figure 12 on page 7 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. Caption reads: 'Mask of deceased woman; attributed to Stilthda.' [JC 16 4 1999]

Longer Description

Wooden mask of a female face with black hair parted in the centre, moveable eyelids, and labret carved on the chin. The mask has been carved from one piece of wood that appears to be either alder or yellow cedar. A crescent shaped slit has been cut above each eye and a small hole below each eye. The crescent shaped slit enables a section of white leather to pass through from the back like an eyelid and a string to close the eyelid passes across the eye and through the hole beneath. The strings to manipulate the eyelids run down the back of the mask and through two holes beneath the chin. The two strings for opening and closing the eyelids are of different thicknesses and textures presumably to be able to differentiate between them by touch. The face of the mask is painted flesh pink, with red lips and black hair. The eyes are painted white and black. The carved labret beneath the lip appears to have been painted white but little of the pigment remains. The edges of the ears are quite burnished from handling. There is a small hole in the top of the head, which appears to have held a screw eye for display at some time. There is a 'v' shaped cut beneath the PL eye which may be original but has been filled with museum animal glue at some time. [HR 28/10/2005]

Display History

This object featured in the 'permanent' display in the court of the PRM of masks from the north-west coast of America that was dismantled in 2004 (number 54 in the display). [DCF Court Team 2002-2004; JC 21 1 2009]

This object featured in the 'permanent' display in the court of the PRM of masks from the north-west coast of America that was installed in 2006-7. Displayed with 1891.49.3, 1891.49.5, and 1891.49.6, with the following text: 'CANADA, BRITISH COLUMBIA, HAIDA GWAII; HAIDA. Four portrait masks made by Haida artist Simeon Stilthda (circa 1799–1889) of Massett and Yan, Haida Gwaii. All have moveable eyes or eyelids. Collected by the Reverend Charles Harrison in the 1880s. From left to right: a young man; a dead young noble woman (with labret); a dead youth; a young man, the face painted with a hawk's tail. Haida artist Vernon Williams commented (in 2005), ‘There's one mask I want to finish with this type of eyes…I know how to do them—but I want to see how he did his. He always did cool hair.' Purchased from Harrison in 1891; 1891.49.6, 1891.49.4, 1891.49.3, 1891.49.5.' [MdeA 3/9/2007; JC 21 1 2009]

Primary Documentation

Accession book entry (for 1891.49.3 and .4): 'From Rev. Ch. Harrison, 80 Halton Rd, Canonbury Sq. N. Collection of Haida objects collected by him.... - [One of] 2 Masks = deceased man & woman. £45. [Purchase price includes 1891.49.1-110]

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

Written on object - 'Mask representing deceased woman (before birth of her first child, with small lip stud). Haida. C. Harrison Colln. (MS. No. 2) Purchased 1891.' [DCF Court Team 14/4/2003]

Related Documents File - Discussion of the masks carved by Simeon Stilthda can be viewed on Tape 2, 15:10, and Tape 4, time 26:10 and 29:28. 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]

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 mask was viewed with three other masks by the same carver, alongside other masks in the collection, on Thursday Sept 10, 2009. Delegates supported the identification of the carver as Simeon Stilthda. Jaalen Edenshaw commented that Stilthda is known for creating masks with moving eyes and was an expert at the techniques required for this. Stilthda is generally thought to be from the Ts'iit Gitanee clan from the village of Yan, although there is a possibility that he is from the other clan who lived in Yan. Diane Brown provided the name of another artist from Yan, Gwaytihl. [Cara Krmpotich note: Among art historians, there has been considerable work undertaken to distinguish the two artists, with many works originally attributed to Gwaytihl later revised as the hand of Stilthda.] With regards to the face painting on the masks, Vince Collison suggested people compare the designs with those illustrated by Franz Boas, and with those appearing in a photograph taken in Skidegate of villagers with masks, regalia and faces painted before they were encouraged to give up those practices. A copy of the photo appears in the catalogue for Raven Travelling: Two Centuries of Haida Art [Cara Krmpotich note: the image appears on page 60. It is cited as being from the United Church of Canada Archives, and taken circa 1890.] Delegates wondered whether any of the masks were used as there are no mouthpieces or teeth marks—signs that a dancer had bitten down to hold on to the mask while dancing.
This mask was identified as a woman. Diane Brown provided the Skidegate Haida word for mask, niijang, which also means a likeness of something. The same word, for example, is used to describe a picture. Diane Brown provided the Skidegate Haida word for labret, stiigka. Jaalen Edenshaw moved the eye lids slightly.
Discussions of the four masks by Simeon Stilthda can be viewed on Tape 2, time 15:10, and Tape 4, time 26:10 and 29:28, which can be found in the Haida Project Related Documents File. [CAK 08/04/2010]

This mask may have been made by the Masset artist Charles Gwaytihl, whose work it resembles (see The Legacy: Continuing Traditions of Canadian Northwest Coast Indian Art, by Peter L. Macnair, Alan L. Hoover and Kevin Neary (Edinburgh: Edinburgh International Festival, 1980), pp. 70, 182 and fig. 48). [LMM, undated; JC 4 9 1996]

The attribution of this mask to Simeon Stilthda (c. 1799-1889) was made by Robin K. Wright in 'Two Haida Artists from Yan. Will John Gwaytihl and Simeon Stilthda Please Step Apart?', in American Indian Art Magazine. Vol. XXIII, no. 3 (Summer 1998), pp. 42-57, 106-107. Wright says that 29 masks can be attributed to Simeon Stilthda and that these can be dividided into four basic types. This is an example of the type of 'young women masks with small labrets''; see p. 57, no. 4. [CW 11 6 98; JC 16 4 1999]

As of December 2005, email correspondence with Bill Holm and conversations with Bill McLennan (MOA, UBC), and several Haida carvers during consultations with Haida Nation, attribution of carver was uniformly to Simeon Stilthda. [Laura Peers, 07/04/2006].