No more royal robe ever draped a king than the dancing blanket of the northern Northwest Coast, universally named the Chilkat blanket, after the Tlingit tribe whose weavers specialized in its making in the nineteenth century. Its characteristic five-sided form, richly fringed, with striking black and yellow bands bordering a complex tapestry of eyes, fins, or feathers, is instantly recognizable. There are dozens of Chilkat blanket patterns. The most common are those called diving whale, most of which are divided into three distinct panels, the central one depicting the whale. (Holm, Spirit and Ancestor, 1987)

The paint is red and black.

The paint is green and black.

No documentation accompanies this striking piece, but it is probably a Nakhnokh mask--that is, a mask representing a hereditary spirit name. When the name is assumed by its owner, it is dramatized in a pantomimic dance using a mask illustrative of the name. Nakhnokh or spirit names refer to animals or to people, often foreigners or those with unusual physical or personality traits. Certain Nakhnokh are violent or antisocial. (Holm, Spirit and Ancestor, 1987)