Headdress Item Number: A6103 from the MOA: University of British Columbia
Description
Painted wooden headdress in the form of a killer whale, carved in four sections around a fur-trimmed inner band; face with an open, toothy mouth and all features in relief, two fins on the sides, and a three-dimensional tail piece attached at the back. A wooden bar is fixed across the top of the inner band with a tall, vertical dorsal fin protruding from its centre. Colours used are black, red, green and white.
Iconographic Meaning
Represents killer whale: max'inux.
Narrative
William Wasden Jr. attributes this whale headdress to artist John Davis (older half-brother to Willie Seaweed, 1869-1939). There is a similar piece in the collection of the British Museum, also made by Davis. The latter is pictured in a photo where it is worn by John Nulis of the Gixsam clan (see "Standing Up with Ga’axsta’las: Jane Constance Cook and the Politics of Memory, Church, and Custom," by Leslie A. Robertson with the Kwagu'l Gixsam Clan, UBC Press, 2012: 62).
Item History
- Made by John Davis ? (Maker) in British Columbia, Canada before 1953
- Collected in Village Island, British Columbia, Canada and 'Mimkwamlis, British Columbia, Canada
- Owned by Hector Webb
- Owned by Alice Mountain before June 16, 1953
- Received from H. R. MacMillan (Funding source) and Alice Mountain (Seller) on June 16, 1953
What
Who
- Culture
- Kwakwaka'wakw
- Creator
- John Davis ? (Maker)
- Previous Owner
- Hector Webb and Alice Mountain
- Received from
- H. R. MacMillan (Funding source) and Alice Mountain (Seller)
Where
- Holding Institution
- MOA: University of British Columbia
- Made in
- British Columbia, Canada
- Collected in
- Village Island, British Columbia, Canada and 'Mimkwamlis, British Columbia, Canada
When
- Creation Date
- before 1953
- Ownership Date
- before June 16, 1953
- Acquisition Date
- on June 16, 1953
Other
- Condition
- fair
- Current Location
- Case 27
- Accession Number
- 2010/0009