Carved Spoon with Five Animal Heads Item Number: 52.4.3a from the Brooklyn Museum
Description
This spoon is carved in one piece. The handle has five animal heads, very deeply carved and standing out along the handle. All the animals have abalone shell eyes.
Credit Line
Gift of Elizabeth Achelis
Label
Every Northwest Coast family had a supply of spoons. Those for common household purposes were of the same shape and materials as feast spoons, though undecorated. Feast spoons such as this example were brought out, in the same way as fine china or best silverware in other cultures, when a family gave a celebratory feast or when visitors arrived from another village. The number of feast spoons was determined by the magnificence of the feast the family could afford. This Haida spoon was delicately carved from a single piece of goat horn and decorated with five animal heads, each with abalone-shell eyes. Before carving, the horn was steamed until pliable, bent into shape, and cooled in a mold.
Item History
- Made between 1868 and 1933
What
- Name
- Carved Spoon with Five Animal Heads
- Identification Number
- 52.4.3a
- Type of Item
- carved spoon, animal and head
- Material
- horn and mother of pearl
- Overall
- length 7.5 in, width 1.9375 in
Who
- Culture
- Haida
Where
- Holding Institution
- Brooklyn Museum
When
- Creation Date
- between 1868 and 1933
Other
- Location
- Luce Visible Storage and Study Center, 5th Floor
- Classification
- Food/Drink