Alfred W. Jenkins Fund

Museum Collection Fund

The Dzunuk'wa, or Cannibal women is a figure important to those Kwakwaka'wakw people who have an ancestral relationship to the stories involving her. She is a large, cumbersome figure, looking very bear like with shaggy fur over her body. She is clumsy and lumbers through the Northwest Coast cedar forests crying "Hoo Hoo Hoo" through her pursed lips. She is thought to carry a large woven basket with her. Should she discover a child who has disobeyed their parents and entered the woods without an adult she scoops them upinto her basket and takes them to her den to eat them! Thus children are always warned against entering the forests without permission! Her mask is a large, and wooden, painted shiny black with spattered white pigment overall and accents of red pigment and fur. The mouth has a large round opening that is surrounded by prominent red lips. Pursed as if she is crying "hoo hoo." The interior of the eyes and nostrils that are large round holes painted red. Fur, possibly bear, attached with iron nails, surrounds the lips and forms the eyebrows. A previous application of fur on these areas is suggested by the appearance of corroded nails holding down remnants of fur plus extraneous nail holes. Used originally to secure the mask are leather thongs at the eyes, the back surface just below the eyes, and at the chin where they were attached to a leather strap. The ritual dance performed with this mask continues today by an individual who inherits the privilege. On the body of the dancer would be bear like regalia and the dancer mimics the clumsy gait of the real Dzunuk'wa. Some feast dishes have forms similar to those contained in these masks. The object is stable and in fair condition. Along the edges, especially on the lower, proper right side is old insect damage. Long vertical cracks are present in the wood, but appear stable.

Museum Expedition 1941, Frank L. Babbott Fund

Ceramic vessel with double spouts joined by a bridge handle. Its rounded bottom converges to an almost flat top on which two tapered spouts sit, joined by a convex bridge handle. The reddish clay has painted decoration in red, reddish brown, black, grey, white, and yellow ochre. The upper half of the vase has two supernatural figures with serpent-like figures emanating from their bodies vividly painted on a white background. Encircling the vase below these creatures is a series of human heads. The lower section of the vessel is undecorated. Condition; good; some surface abrasions.

Frank Sherman Benson Fund and the Henry L. Batterman Fund

Small, cylindrical tripod vessel decorated with a stucco polychrome design featuring the rain god Tlaloc with goggle eyes and a large, elaborate headdress. Condition: fair; paint losses and small hole on one side

Frank Sherman Benson Fund and the Henry L. Batterman Fund

Gift of Dr. Werner Muensterberger

Objects of Inca tradition such as plates, trays, and kero cups were treasured by the Peruvian Indian nobility. Kero cups were displayed in indigenous elite homes along with European-style objects and silver as visible reminders of their owners’ noble ancestry. This pair is decorated with an Inca male and female standing under a rainbow, a symbol that connoted Inca royal authority. Keros were made and used in pairs for the consumption of chicha, or maize beer, in ritual ceremonies (see illustration) that continued through the colonial period. The use of pairs reflected the important Andean concepts of duality and reciprocity.


Los objetos de tradición incaica como platos, bandejas y copas o vasos kero eran atesorados por la nobleza indígena peruana. Los keros se exhibían en casas indígenas de la élite junto a objetos de estilo europeo y platería como recordatorios visibles del linaje noble de sus propietarios. Este par está decorado con un hombre y mujer incas de pie bajo un arcoíris, símbolo que connotaba la autoridad real inca. Los keros eran fabricados y usados en pares para consumir chicha (cerveza de maíz) en ceremonias rituales (ver ilustración), costumbre que continuó durante el periodo colonial. El empleo de pares reflejaba el importante concepto andino de dualidad y reciprocidad.