Headdress
NA8499
From: United States of America | Alaska | Sitka (uncertain)
Curatorial Section: American
Object Number | NA8499 |
Current Location | Collections Storage |
Culture | Tlingit |
Provenience | United States of America | Alaska | Sitka (uncertain) |
Culture Area | Northwest Coast Culture Area |
Locus | Sitka Kaagwaantaan Clan? | Eagle's Nest House? |
Section | American |
Materials | Shell | Wood | Pigment | Ermine | Abalone | Feather | Whisker | Wool |
Iconography | Bear | Wolf |
Description | Headdress or frontlet entitled "Grizzly Bear Crest Sustained by the Wolf Emblem" (Shotridge, 1919, Museum Journal v. X, no 1-2, p. 48). The carved wood has a design of a bear in low relief with all four limbs carved in high relief. Between the bear's limbs, a wolf's head is carved in high relief and is oriented toward the bear's head. Red paint is used around the edges of the bear, parts of the limbs, and around the perimeter of the carving. Green paint is used for the animals' faces, the bear's fingers and toes, and immediately surrounding the bear. Abalone shell inlay is used for the animals' eyes, the bear's paws, and around the perimeter of the carving. Red felt is attached to the edges of the carving and an ermine pelt is attached on either side, oriented vertically. The top of the headdress is lined with sea lion whiskers. Below the whiskers on the back of the headdress, orange and black flicker feathers are attached with gray feathers filling the spaces between. Below those feathers is a section of white down feathers. Finally, below the down feathers, a long train of two tiers of white ermine pelts is attached to a hide backing. The cap portion of the headdress is lined with green and purple, patterned cloth. Hide straps are attached along the edges of the cap to affix the headdress to the wearer's head. |
Length | 58.8 cm |
Width | 40.5 cm |
Credit Line | Wanamaker Expedition to the Northwest Coast; Louis Shotridge, 1918 |
Other Number | HD5 - Other Number |
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