Dish Item Number: 3633/1 a-b from the MOA: University of British Columbia
Lidded dish carved in the shape of a bear. Painted black on exterior with white painted interior. The dish (part a) has an oval-shaped concavity in the bear's back; holes drilled into left corners. The bear's head extends forward, with ears back, a line for the mouth, and the eyes are lightly carved with circular cutouts for inlay. Each paw has carved toes. The lid (part b) is rectangular, with rounded sides. The two shorter sides are angled inward, and the interior of the lid has an oval concavity with a hole drilled at centre; two holes drilled into left corners.
Henry Doyle, the collector of this bowl, operated canneries on the west coast (e.g., Namu, Kimsquit, Mill Bay) from the 1890s-1940s. His family (the donors), believe Doyle received this bowl from either the Haida or the Tsimshian between 1900-1920. Doyle's family spent a lot of time at the Mill Bay cannery site [in Nisga’a territory (Kincolith)], though Doyle had extensive travels and contacts up and down the coast. His father-in-law, Marshall English, operated one of the first four canneries on the Fraser at Brownsville.