Chilkat Robe

Item number A17007 from the MOA: University of British Columbia.

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Description

Chilkat style robe with woven designs and long fringe. The design is a three panel distributive. In the centre are two ancestor faces surrounded by a diving whale(?) motif. The side panels have ancestors faces in profile and a raven motif. The design is yellow, blue and black on natural ground. The two bottom corners have two rectangles with zigzags in black and yellow, associated with the identity of the weaver. There is long twisted fringe, on three sides, of mixed wool and cedar bark. On the top edge are two red flannel tabs with buttons and buttonholes for securing the robe around the neck. There is no cedar bark in the warp of this blanket.

History Of Use

Chilkat blankets were originally made by northern Tlingit people and traded down the coast to be worn on ceremonial occasions by Haida, Tsimshian and Kwakwaka'wakw chiefs. Chilkat robes were symbols of wealth: to own them endowed a chief with great prestige. Even greater prestige resulted from giving them away in potlatch. If there was no chief attending of high enough rank to receive it, the blanket might be cut into strips and distributed to a number of persons of prestige. These strips would be made into other ceremonial garments, such as shirts, aprons, leggings, headdresses, or bags. The right to weave and wear Chilkat blankets came to the Fort Rupert Kwakwaka'wakw through Mary Ebbets Hunt.

Cultural Context

ceremonial

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 in specific ways.

Narrative

This blanket was formerly owned by George Cadwallader, who inherited it from his great-grandmother, Mary Ebbets Hunt (1823-1919). The robe was displayed at the Isaac family potlatch in Alert Bay, May 2018.