This handwoven sash is worn around a man's dance skirt and tied so that the design hangs down on one side in the front. The design is thought to represent an abstract Kachina face.

A. Augustus Healy Fund

Museum Expedition 1905, Museum Collection Fund

Museum Expedition 1903, Museum Collection Fund

Painted wood, hominoid, face mask with large nose. The brows are flat and painted with red extending from the forehead. Large, black eyebrows are underlined with red. The nose, eyesockets and outer cheeks are painted dark blue. The nostrils are red and the inner cheeks around the mouth are green. The mouth is parted and cut through to the back. Painted woven ties are attached to the sides of the mask.

By exchange

This deeply carved mask is painted with brown, red, green and white. It has painted eyebrows and teeth. The jaw is loose and could be manipulated in a dance performance to indicate a talking mask. This mask is identified as representing an orator, the individual who would recount the histories that were dramatized by Winter Dance performers. The lower jaw, articulated to produce a more lifelike effect, would be moved to imitate the actions of the performer as he spoke. These types of masks were once common among many Northwest Coast tribes and each had their own stories to tell. The deeply carved and exaggerated features of this image are more typical of Heiltsuk that Haida style but the mask could have come from either nation. The otherworldly appearance of the mask would have been attenuated by the flickering light and shadows of the fire lit performance.

By exchange

By exchange

By exchange