Museum Expedition 1911, Museum Collection Fund

Museum Expedition 1911, Museum Collection Fund

This is a house post made of cedar wood, dark and unpainted. Two figures: supernatural bird, probably a thunderbird, holds a small humanoid figure to its chest area in front of a shield called a "copper". The Supernatural bird has a beak as well as humanoid ears and mouth. The frontal figures are carefully carved in high relief. The back is roughly carved and relatively flat. Condition is generally the best in a set of 4. (see 11.700.2-.3-.4) There are several cracks that include many large vertical cracks, abrasions, losses, scratches, and surface wear. In some areas the wood is weak due to rot and insect damage. There are iron hooks on the back, top and bottom, evidently from a former mount.

The object is a large carved wooden ladle (a), decorated in black and red paint, with a separately carved wooden skull (b) nesting in its bowl. At the end of the ladle's handle is an animal head. Both skull and animal head have pieces of fur attached.

The object is also referred to as a war club. Its head is a large elongated rectangular stone that is inserted into a carved wooden handle. The handle has three faces, one on the top and the second and third on either side of the ax head. These faces have three rows of hair in small "ponytails" protruding from the ridge above the eyebrows. One of the hair "ponytails" has been cut off, leaving a stump of frayed hair sticking up on the proper left top side of the face. The underside of the handle has a carved seal and midway along the handle is a filled break. The object is painted black with white and red accents. There are inlayed areas of abalone shell around the base of the handle, the sides of the head, and in the eyes and teeth of the faces. The only missing shell inlay is from the base of the handle. The overall condition of the piece is fair and stable. According to Robin K. Wright, Burke Museum, 4/16/03, the face looks more Bella Bella (Heiltsuk).

item is from the Augustus Henry Lane Fox Pitt Rivers founding collection

From card: "Decorated with painted totemic devices."

From card for E23523-46: "Dec 20, 1972, Bill Holm says that these are definitely Haida."Cultural ID for paddles E23523 - 23546 is somewhat in question. They were catalogued as Clallam, Bill Holm has identified them as Haida, but James Swan in correspondence in the accession file references 24 Bella Bella paddles.

From card for E23523-46: "Dec 20, 1972, Bill Holm says that these are definitely Haida."Cultural ID for paddles E23523 - 23546 is somewhat in question. They were catalogued as Clallam, Bill Holm has identified them as Haida, but James Swan in correspondence in the accession file references 24 Bella Bella paddles.

FROM CARD: "ILLUS.: HNDBK. N. AMER. IND., VOL. 7, NORTHWEST COAST, FIG. 1Y, PG. 2." Handbook caption identifies as long-handled elbow hafted adze.Listed on page 50 in "The Exhibits of the Smithsonian Institution at the Panama-Pacific International Exposition, San Francisco, California, 1915", in section "Arts of the Northwest Coast Tribes (Tools)".