Doctor's Headdress (guk-tsu-shua) Item Number: 08.491.8952 from the Brooklyn Museum
Description
This Doctor's headdress was probably made by Dr. Hudson using gull feathers his wife gathered with special permission from the game warden. The Big-Head headdress or Kuksu shna, a ceremony involving the impersonation of a god. The feathers are attached to a twined redbud or dogwood framework, and a projecting snout, representing the long nose of the Kuksu spirit, is composed of short feathers attached to a stick. There has been some confusion as to if this is made correctly or it may have been rendered slightly differently by Hudson after a particular Pomo group.
Credit Line
Museum Expedition 1908, Museum Collection Fund
Item History
- Made between 1906 and 1907
What
- Name
- Doctor's Headdress (guk-tsu-shua)
- Identification Number
- 08.491.8952
- Type of Item
- headdress
- Material
- crow feather, redbud ?, dogwood ?, wood, cotton string and indian hemp
- Overall
- length 25.0 in, width 39.0 in, height 29.0 in
Who
- Culture
- Pomo
Where
- Holding Institution
- Brooklyn Museum
When
- Creation Date
- between 1906 and 1907
Other
- Classification
- Clothing