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Description

Wooden model of totem pole, depicting animals and people, with detached eagle on top [.2] [SM 25/11/2008]

Publications History

Referred to ('of a quality that suggests 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]
Reproduced in black and white as plate 3 on page 110, and described and discussed on pages 109-110, of '"Small Meetings across Cultural Boundaries": Model Totem Poles and the Imagination of Cultures on the Northwest Coast of America', by Claire Warrior, in Journal of Museum Ethnography, no. 11 (1999), pp. 105-120. [JC 5 5 1999]

Longer Description

Wooden model of totem pole, depicting animals and people, with detached eagle on top [.2]. This object is made of three pieces of wood: the base, the main pole, the eagle at the top. However, the base and main section of the pole are attached with two screws, the eagle is detached and is attached to the top of the pole with a wooden peg. The pole is painted blue, red, black and brown and is well carved and painted. The base is squared and painted a brick red colour. The bottom figure is a bear with front and hind legs painted in brick red and positioned in front of its unpainted body. The face is unpainted, however the lips and nostrils are accented with bright red paint and the eyes, eyebrows and ears are painted black. Within each ear is a bear cub painted with both red colours and black. In the mouth of this bear is a shrimp or prawn (not a crayfish as labelled). It faces downwards and has a blue body, blue, red and black face, and black ears. Sitting between the ears of the bear is a human with bright red body, and unpainted face with mouth and nose accented in bright red and eyes and eyebrows accented in black. Above the first bear is a second large bear figure with brick red front and hind legs. The face is unpainted except for the mouth which is painted red and features a protruding tongue, and eyes, eyebrows and ears highlighted with black paint. in each ear is an unpainted human faced accented with red and black paint. Above the second bear is a third bear with more human-like legs and arms painted brick red. The bear's mouth is open and two rows of teeth are clearly visible. The mouth and nostrils are painted red, and the eyes, eyebrows and ears are painted black. In each ear is a blue-green frog facing downward. Between the ears is a human face with red lips and nostrils and black eyes and eyebrows. Above the human head is an eagle with unpainted clawns, black body, and plain head with red mouth and black eyes. [CAK 31/03/2010]

There are typed labels stuck on the object (probably old display interpretation labels) identifying the representational components of the pole. From top to bottom they read: 'Eagle', 'Frog', 'Dog', 'Wolf', 'Bear', 'Crayfish'. [JN 9 1996]

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 model pole was viewed alongside other wood carvings on Tuesday Sept 15, 2009. Delegates clarified that the three main figures are bears. Nika Collison pointed out that the second figure from the top is not a dog as labelled, nor is the wolf label accurate. Christian White identified one of the bears as having cubs in its ears, while another bear has cubs in their human form in its ears. One delegate noted that sometimes the faces of the people who commissioned the pole would be carved in the ears of some of the main figures. Christian White thought the bear at the bottom could possibly be a sea bear. Another analysis of the bear figures is that the top bear is either a grizzly or black bear with frogs in its ears; followed by a black bear with bear cubs in human form or ancestors in its ears; with a black bear at the base with cubs. There was a question as to whether the top bear figure is a human with fur in mid-transformation or that the human head at the top of the pole indicated a human wearing a bear skin. Another delegate offered that all the bears were black bears. It was observed that grizzly bears are depicted with canine teeth and the top row of teeth, whereas black bears are depicted with two rows of teeth that do not emphasise the canine teeth . The figure at the bottom was thought to be a prawn or shrimp, not crayfish. Christian White noted that there are no crayfish on Haida Gwaii. Delegates were excited about the prawn figure as they had not seen one carved on a pole before. The figure at the top is an eagle. There was a suspicion that this pole told the Bear Mother story.
Delegates commented that the pole is well-proportioned and the carving was nicely executed for a model. Still, some suggested that the pole was carved by an apprentice because there was room for improvement in terms of three-dimensional carving and formline principles, whereas another suggestion was the skill demonstrated in the proportioning was not matched by the level of carving. It was also observed that the design on the reverse of the eagle was 'exquisite', but not matched by other areas on the pole. There was a sense that much of the detail had been left off of this model, perhaps because it did not have a ceremonial use.
The pigments used to paint the pole were thought to be natural. The use of two different hues of red was commented on as being interesting.
Delegates thought that the artist of this pole was not the same as the artist who made 1891.49.14 because the eyes and frogs are different in style. Nika Collison, Gaahlaay (Lonnie Young) and Kwiaahwah Jones also thought greater effort had been put into the creation of this pole than 1891.49.14.
Christian White suggested consulting texts by anthropologist John Swanton who described all the poles in Massett. Christian thought it might be possible to match this pole to one of those described. Christian thinks it probable that this is a model of an actual pole.
The Skidegate Haida word for prawn was given as dagaay. [CAK 31/03/2010]

The translation of 'totem pole' used here is from Robin Wright's book "Northern Haida Master Carvers", published in 2001 by the University of Washington Press in Seattle. See, especially, chapter 1. [CAK 11/03/2010]

Display History

Current PRM Display Label [C.155.A - May 2009] - Model of a crest pole. Haida Nation, Haida Gwaii, British Columbia, Canada. The pole is carved with what are known as ‘crest figures' that relate to family lineages, status, and property rights and serve as reminders of the stories of how ancestral beings bestowed these rights on a family. The figures depicted are, from the top: eagle, human face, dog shown with frogs inside its ears, wolf with human faces in its ears and its tongue protruding, a red-coloured human, and, at the bottom, a bear with faces in its ears and a crayfish in its mouth. Probably made by Charles Edenshaw in the 1880s; collected by C. Harrison, 1882–1890 1891.49.13 [SM 12/05/2009]

Primary Documentation

Accession book entry (for 1891.49.13 and .14): 'From Rev. Ch. Harrison, 80 Halton Rd, Canonbury Sq. N. Collection of Haida objects collected by him.... - 2 Models of Totem poles. £45. [Purchase price includes 1891.49.1-110]

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

Pitt Rivers Museum label [separately stuck on object] - Eagle. Frog. Dog. Wolf. Bear. Crayfish. [MJD 24/08/2009]

Written on object: 'Model of totem pole. Haida N. Pacific. C. Harrison Coll. (MS no.20). Purchased 1891.' [? JN 9 1996]

Related Documents File - Email correspondence from Kwiaahwah Jones linking the presence of a prawn (not crayfish) on the pole to a reference in John R. Swanton's 'Contributions to the Ethnology of the Haida' 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]