Cradle Figure Item Number: 3525/1 from the MOA: University of British Columbia
Carving of an infant strapped into a dugout-style carved wooden cradle, with a carved head-presser over and around the infant's head. Cradle has a slanted headboard and rectangular footboard; top half of footboard attached separately. Top edge of headboard and top corners of sides have been painted dark grey; entire footboard and top corners of sides have been painted dark brown-black. Infant is wrapped in a blanket with only its face, neck and feet visible. The head-presser covers the infant's eyes. The frowning mouth is incised; upper lip and long nose done in relief. Straps and rings are carved in relief. Legs of figure are in an elevated position, resting on a slanted platform.
Representations of this kind, depicting a baby in a cradle, were traditionally made for use in Nuu-chah-nulth ceremonies honouring a baby. The headpiece over the figure’s forehead represents the cedar-bark padding used to flatten a baby’s forehead in order to achieve the desired head shape; on an actual child, such padding would have been ceremonially removed at ritual occasions where carvings like this one may also have been used.