Bentwood Bowl

Item number 3260/46 from the MOA: University of British Columbia.

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Description

Large bentwood bowl, or dish. Wrapped around the four sides are painted images of killer whales, their heads meeting at the front, their tails at the back. Human-like faces appear in the whales’ blowholes and above the heads; a face with an upturned mouth and two ears looks out above the tail flukes, its clawed hands/paws on either side, and slender legs extending around to either side of the bowl. Dark red border around upper edge. Yellow cedar sides, red cedar base.

History Of Use

Bentwood containers of this shape, with an undulating rim, are often called bowls or dishes. They would have been used to bring in food to the assembled guests at a feast.

Specific Techniques

Like a bentwood box, the sides of this bowl were steam-bent from a single plank of cedar, the fourth corner was pegged closed (formerly this corner would have been pegged or sewn together), and the base was carved separately and then attached. The rim of the dish is carved and painted to appear as a separate piece, but is continuous with the sides.

Narrative

This is one of two bentwood bowls that appear to have been made by the same hand; the whereabouts of the second are not currently known, but both appear in historical photographs taken at Skidegate, Haida Gwaii, when they were being offered for sale around the 1960s.