The Tlingit warriors who captured and destroyed the Russian fort Archangel Michael in 1802 wore helmets shaped in imitation of ferocious animals with gleaming teeth and of monstrous beings (Kyril Khlebnikov, quoted in Miller and Miller 1967:140). When Alexander Baranoff retook Sitka in 1804, he captured some of those helmets and sent them back to Russia with the Neva's commander Urey Lisiansky. They are among the many old Tlingit helmets in the Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography in St. Petersburg today. This killer whale helmet is from that period, and could have even been worn in the 1802 battle, since according to Russian accounts, the plan for the general uprising was made at Angoon, the Hootsnuwoo village. (Holm, Spirit and Ancestor, 1987)

The most prestigious object in any Tlingit clan is the crest hat. It is the physical manifestation of lineage traditions, and can be properly likened to a crown of royalty. On the momentous occasions when it is worn before the people by its noble custodian, it reminds all who see it of its history and of the glorious deeds of the clan ancestors. Chief Shakes' Killer Whale Hat is the royal crown of the Nanyaayi clan of the Stikine Tlingit. (Holm, Spirit and Ancestor, 1987)

No documentation accompanies this striking piece, but it is probably a Nakhnokh mask--that is, a mask representing a hereditary spirit name. When the name is assumed by its owner, it is dramatized in a pantomimic dance using a mask illustrative of the name. Nakhnokh or spirit names refer to animals or to people, often foreigners or those with unusual physical or personality traits. Certain Nakhnokh are violent or antisocial. (Holm, Spirit and Ancestor, 1987)

Tall, glossy black dorsal fin, hair streaming from the trailing edge, is the mark of the killer whale: the most imposing natural animal of the Tlingit world and a crest of the Wolf phratry. Here the orca is combined with the wolf itself in a powerful crest headdress, collected by George Emmons from the Stikine Tlingit. Emmons did not identify the clan that owned the headdress, but described it as of "totemic significance," worn by the chief--to whose care it was entrusted--only upon special occasions when the whole family was present. (Holm, Spirit and Ancestor, 1987)

TANGIBLE VISIONS. WARDWELL, ALLEN, 1996 FROM THE LAND OF THE TOTEM POLES. JONAITIS, ALDONA, 1988

The paint is black, red, turquoise, and brown.

The paint is black and red.

Dzoonokwa, one of the best known mythical personages in Kwakwaka'wakw art, is usually represented as a female. She is a giantess of great strength and awesome appearance. Her characteristic features are large size, dark hairy body, hanging breasts, and a great head with heavy brow, arched nose, sunken cheeks and eyesockets, and lips pushed foward and rounded to produce her fearsome cry, "Oooooh!" (Holm, Crooked Beak of Heaven, 1972)

Heavy black wood gable mask with only the lower half of the back carved out. Tufts of curly black hair and shells are inset into mounds of black clay(?) at the top of the head, eyebrows, eyes, mouth and sides of the nose. The nose is pierced with a long stick and each ear has twisted brown grass rope earrings knotted into two holes.