Fan of white and some purple-blue downy feathers, and a birch bark handle with quillwork. The front has attached a small black and orange-yellow bird with its body oriented downwards, and head turned to its left. The back has 11 white feathers extending out of the handle, the tops of which have been rounded with downy feathers extending beyond them. There is quillwork on both sides of the birch bark handle. On the front, there is a seated person in profile with a pipe held to their mouth next to a small tree surrounded by a foliage frame with a flower at the top and bottom. Below, a bird in profile stands within some foliage. The quillwork on the back of the handle depicts another person in profile with a pipe(?) held to their mouth, situated between two different plants and also framed by foliage and a flower at the top and bottom. Below appears to be a red plant.

Museum Purchase: Indian Collection Subscription Fund, Rasmussen Collection of Northwest Coast Indian Art.

Museum Purchase: Indian Collection Subscription Fund, Rasmussen Collection of Northwest Coast Indian Art.

Museum Purchase: Indian Collection Subscription Fund, Rasmussen Collection of Northwest Coast Indian Art.

Museum Purchase: Indian Collection Subscription Fund, Rasmussen Collection of Northwest Coast Indian Art.

By exchange

Frank L. Babbott Fund

Headdress frontlet with a wooden bear crest, set within a frame, and painted red, green, and black. The back is unpainted. The frame as well as the bear's eyes, teeth, and paws have inlaid sections of carved abalone shell. Long ermine trailers hang down the back and sea lion whiskers stick out from the top. The headdress would have been worn for a Welcome or Peace Dance. The face's thick, heavy, black eyebrows help to corroborate this attribution. A fistful of eagle down feathers would be placed inside the center of the frontlet. As the chief danced and bowed and greeted his audience, the feathers would float out of his headdress symbolizing peace and friendship. In Tshimshian this was known as Am-halait or "power from the Sky." CONDITION: The object is in fair and stable condition. Special care in handling the piece should be taken for it was treated with arsenic in the past.