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Description

Piece of argillite pipe carved with the figure of a bearded man with a dog tied to his back. [CAK 21/05/2009]

Longer Description

Piece of argillite pipe carved with the figure of a bearded man with a dog tied to his back. The orientation of this fragment is difficult to determine. It is described here as though the numbered edge is the base, and the broken fragmented end is a side (see also Research Notes). The fragment is carved from a single piece of argillite in an open-work fashion. Both sides are identically carved. The base is undecorated, but curves upward at one end. Within this curve is a bag with a cross-hatched design, cinched at its top, and looped or tied around the tail of a dog. The dog's forearms and head connect with the base, and its body extends upward at an angle toward the pipe's end. The fur of the animal is indicated with segments of parallel lines. It has a full, long tail. Atop the dog's head is the tail of a man's frock coat, decorated with a widely-spaced double-line design. The man's feet project upward at an angle and are braced against a rope (there is also a small carved segment which may be for support only, connecting the feet to a vertical segment of the pipe). His trousers are decorated with a double line running down the side and a hem, and his shoes appear to be wing tips. The base of the man's coat joins to a vertical segment carved with squares that may represent shingles (or siding or planking) on a ship's cabin. Near the top of the ?cabin wall, a rope extends out, looping around the man's waist and animal's belly. Above the rope is a curling element. The man's elbows rest on the curled piece: his arms are bent up toward his mouth, with one hand clasped in the other, and the fingers of one hand in his mouth. The top of the man's coat is plain. The man is bearded, and his hair is carved in straight segments, extending almost to the collar of his coat. The back of the man's head rests against the tail of the dog. On the end of the vertical cabin wall is evidence of the rest of the pipe. On one side, at the base, a shift in design where the cabin would be is noticeable: there appear to be crescent designs on the missing segment. [CAK 21/05/2009]

Primary Documentation

Accession Book Entry [Balfour 5] - 'Balfour gift 1939... [2212]/2213 [1 of] Two shale stone carvings; [man seated on stool stirring contents of some vessel (?), with a barrel behind his back, ] and bearded man carrying animal (?wolf) tied to his back. Apparently modern work exhibiting white man's influence. Same provenance ["HAIDA, QUEEN CHARLOTTE ID., BRITISH COLUMBIA"]. (Both affixed to one wooden board).'
Additional Accession Book Entry - '2212/2213: poss. two ends of one pipe, with a central portion (a cabin-type structure) missing. Or poss. parts of 2 pipes. Def. Haida' [CW 9 6 98]

There is no further information on the catalogue card. [CW 9 6 98]

Pitt Rivers Museum label - NW COAST HAIDA Q.CHARLOTTE IS. Part of argillite pipe. Balfour don. 1939 Balfour 2213 [CAK 21/05/2009]

Written on object - Balfour 2213 [CAK 21/05/2009]

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]

Research Notes

The orientation of this fragment is based on the propensity for panel pipes to have a flat base, and for ship pipes to have an upward curving end (representing either the billet head or keel of a ship). Additionally, the portion missing may have been the ship's cabin as suggested in the Accession Book, hence the vertical section with square segments may represent shingles or planking on the cabin. [CAK 21/05/2009]

It is unlikely fragments 2212 and 2213 (1938.35.1543 and 1938.35.1544) are two pieces of the same pipe as the scale of the human figures and bases are very different and as the base of each pipe features a different design; pipe bases normally represented the hull of a ship at the water line, hence it would be unlikely to have two such different designs on one pipe (i.e. one ship). [CAK 21/05/2009]

Argillite carvings represent the earliest form of tourist art made on the Northwest Coast. Haida carvers began fashioning argillite for sale to sailors, and later settlers and visitors, as early as the 1820s (see, for example, Robin Wright's book "Northern Haida Master Carvers", pg 106, and Peter McNair's contribution to the catalogue "Raven Travelling: two centuries of Haida art"). Ship panel pipes were produced beginning in the 1830s, according to Peter McNair (see pg 104; see also Robin Wright's article in American Indian Art Magazine 5(1), page 40-47, in 1979, "Haida Argillite Ship Pipes", and her 1982 article in American Indian Art Magazine 8(1), page 48-55, "Haida Argillite Carved for Sale"). [CAK 21/05/2009]

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 pipe was viewed alongside other argillite carvings on Tuesday Sept 15, 2009. Delegates identified the animal in the scene as a dog. Christian White noted that dogs and horses are often depicted very similarly in argillite carvings. He thought the scene was of a ship captain and dog. Other delegates thought the figure was simply a man on board a ship. Nika Collison proposed that there might be a storm, and that the man has tied himself and his possession to the ship. She identified the curving bottom line of the carving as referencing the form of a ship as seen on other pipes. She thought the man was biting his fingernails apprehensively. Another suggestion was that the top right section of the pipe had broken away but that perhaps it had been carved as a large wave.
A group discussion about argillite raised the following points. Argillite is only carved on Haida Gwaii. It is a natural resource of the islands, is very brittle and difficult to carve. Black is the most common variety, but rarer red and brown varieties also exist. It requires a skillful hand to carve it successfully. In addition to early trading, argillite served an important purpose during difficult years in Haida communities. Even when not skillfully executed, argillite allowed carvers to record stories and oral histories, like previous generations did in wood before them; they were able to preserve a significant amount of information that might otherwise have been lost. Argillite also provided a medium for Haidas to be satirical about the Europeans they were encountering.[CAK 18/05/2010]