ID Number

Title

Item Name

Culture

Material

Manufacturing Technique

Place Made

Place Collected

Date Owned

Owner

Acquisition Date

Source

Source

Measurements

Item Classes

Condition

Accession Number

Cultural Context

ceremonial

Specific Techniques

For contemporary blankets, the design is applied to a template which is used to cut out the applique material. Women sew the robes. The tree of life design was cut in 7 sections, sewn together, and then appliqued onto the background blanket material and decorated with buttons or sequins.

Iconographic Meaning

Emblems or crests distinguish different social groups (lineages, phratries, or moieties) and symbolize their privileges. They can be shown on any material possessions, such as totem poles or robes, and each group owns the right to display specific crests. Within each group, families or individuals have the right to show the general crests is specific ways. According to Simon Dick, the tree of life design is one of the predominant crests of the Kwakwaka'wakw. It is shared with different families, and no particular village has tried to take responsibility for the origin of the crest.

Description

Button blanket made of a large blue wool blanket. Black band at each end, and a wide red woolen flannel border sewn to both sides and across the top, with a section cut out at the neck and inserted with dark blue and red cotton. Another wide red flannel band is sewn from top to bottom on each side, along the edge of the blanket's black band. This whole border design section is heavily decorated with button designs. The main crest design is a red flannel tree of life design. There is a manufacturer's stamp mark on the bottom of the red flannel border.

History Of Use

The traditional crest-style button blanket ceremonial robe proclaims hereditary rights, obligations, and powers through the depiction and display of family crests. The design becomes the property of the family and cannot be copied. The documentation for each crest is known and recited at feasts where those attending verify its prerogatives and obligations. Before Europeans introduced manufactured cloth to the coast in the 1700s, the indigenous peoples made their ceremonial robes from animal hides. Button blankets were used increasingly from the latter part of the 19th century among the coastal nations, from northern Vancouver Island to the Alaska Panhandle.