Mask Item Number: A8368 from the MOA: University of British Columbia

Description

Unpainted carved wooden mask with painted white jagged teeth, burnt lines for main portion of eyebrows, burnt crosses at the cheek, and black paint at sides of nose and for the extended eyebrow.

History Of Use

Said to be a kusyut or shaman mask used in the askqnkuts dance, e.g., used in a dance performed when a dead person who had been buried in one place was moved to another plot - the mask represents a dead person who has come from the grave.

Narrative

In 1959 John Davenport Clayton sold this collection of Bella Coola belongings (A8360-A8376) to the Campbell River Historical Society (Museum). The collection comprised 17 masks, headdresses, and other ceremonial items, as well as 3 cedar boxes. In 1963 the Campbell River Museum sold the 17 masks and ceremonial items to MOA (not the boxes). Objects in this collection may have come from Nuxalk households via sale, or exchange (as collateral towards money owed on goods purchased at the store), or may have been placed with the Claytons for secure storage during a time of floods and fires, and ended up remaining with the Clayton family?

Item History

What

Name
Mask
Identification Number
A8368
Type of Item
mask
Material
charcoal pigment, paint and wood
Manufacturing Technique
carved and painted
Overall
height 27.0 cm, width 21.6 cm, depth 15.0 cm

Who

Culture
Nuxalk
Previous Owner
John Davenport Clayton and Campbell River & District Historical Society
Received from
Campbell River & District Historical Society (Seller) and H. R. MacMillan (Funding source)

Where

Holding Institution
MOA: University of British Columbia
Made in
Bella Coola, British Columbia, Canada

When

Collection Date
between 1890 and 1910
Ownership Date
before 1959 and before April 17, 1963
Acquisition Date
on April 17, 1963

Other

Condition
good
Current Location
Case 12
Accession Number
0099/0009