Wooden Mask, Human Face Item Number: E74341-0 from the National Museum of Natural History
Notes
From card: "Carved from the solid. Hardwood. Pained in green, vermillion and black. Hair tufts (now missing) inserted in a series of holes extending over apex of crown from ear to ear. Teeth, apparently of a white shell inserted in excavated trenches in upper and lower jaws. Illus. in USNM AR 1888, Pl. XIII, fig. 42, p. 270." Identified in the publication as a wooden helmet. Per Tommy Joseph, 6-2-2009, helmet is in form of a human with shark characteristics, including eyes with downturning outer corners, and gills, and back of helmet has carved shark formline imagery.Florence Sheakley, elder, made the following comments during the Tlingit Recovering Voices Community Research Visit, March 13-March 24, 2017. Florence belives the owner of this helmet was Shark clan.
Item History
- Made in Sitka, Baranof Island, Alaska, USA
- Collected by Sgt. John J. McLean in Sitka, Baranof Island, Alaska, USA during 1884
- Received on December 27, 1884
What
- Name
- Wooden Mask, Human Face
- Identification Number
- E74341-0
- Type of Item
- helmet
Who
- Culture
- Tlingit
- Field Collector
- Sgt. John J. McLean
Where
- Holding Institution
- National Museum of Natural History
- Made in
- Sitka, Baranof Island, Alaska, USA
- Collected in
- Sitka, Baranof Island, Alaska, USA
When
- Collection Date
- during 1884
- Acquisition Date
- on December 27, 1884
Other
- Accession Number
- 015504