The paint is red.

Square, bentcorner boxes were the principal furniture of northern Northwest Coast houses. Piled along walls and between bedroom partitions, they acted as shelves, seats, wardrobes, cupboards, pantries, containers for food and water, treasure chests, even urinals. Many were plain; some were painted only with red stripes up the corners. Those most oftwen seen in museums and private collections today are elaborately painted with formline designs and fitted with thick lids which are frequently studded with small white shells, the opercula of the red turban snail. (Holm, Spirit and Ancestor, 1987)

The paint is red.

The paint is black and red.

The paint is red and black.

This small chest has been identified as a gambler's box. If so, the box was probably intended to hold rolled skin containers and painted gambling sticks, the shredded cedar bark in which they were shuffled, and the mat under which the sticks were shuffled and on which they were thrown for display. On the other hand, the box is the size and shape of well-documented shamans' chests in which rattles, amulets, and other objects of the profession were kept. Whatever its use, this chest is a fine example of northern Northwest Coast art and craftsmanship from the early historic period. (Holm, Spirit and Ancestor, 1987)

The paint is red.