Bequest of Mrs. Carl L. Selden

Gift of the Ernest Erickson Foundation, Inc.

These ivory figurines may be high-status versions of the miniature clay examples that have been found in burial contexts throughout the Andean region of South America. The small and delicate male and female carvings are decorated with stone and shell inlays that suggest that they possibly functioned as treasured talismans or ritual offerings.


Estas figurillas de marfil pueden tratarse de versiones de alto rango de los ejemplos de miniaturas de barro que se han encontrado en contextos funerarios a través de la región Andina de Sudamérica. Los pequeños y delicados tallados masculino y femenino están decorados con incrustaciones de piedra y concha, sugiriendo que tuvieron una función como amuletos atesorados o como ofrendas rituales.

Gift of the Ernest Erickson Foundation, Inc.

Gift of Dr. Werner Muensterberger

The whistle is in the form of a human face with an open mouth and the instrument is likely to have been used during the Hamatsa initiation ceremony. Cotton cord is wrapped around the "neck."

This pottery doll wears hanging earrings and a necklace (both of dark blue and white beads), bracelets on either wrist (of sea-blue beads), and purplish-black yarn around waist which holds a red skirt. The black, thick hair falls straight with a bang effect at the forehead. Openings in ear lobes, nostrils, and mouth--eyes are black and white. Slight suggestion of breasts: toes and fingers defined. Brown line designs cross the eyes, jaws and chin and begin at the collar bone on the torso and continue, vertically, down the chest, arms and legs. Her skirt is wrapped around the waist and fastened with a yarn waistband.

The object is also referred to as a war club. Its head is a large elongated rectangular stone that is inserted into a carved wooden handle. The handle has three faces, one on the top and the second and third on either side of the ax head. These faces have three rows of hair in small "ponytails" protruding from the ridge above the eyebrows. One of the hair "ponytails" has been cut off, leaving a stump of frayed hair sticking up on the proper left top side of the face. The underside of the handle has a carved seal and midway along the handle is a filled break. The object is painted black with white and red accents. There are inlayed areas of abalone shell around the base of the handle, the sides of the head, and in the eyes and teeth of the faces. The only missing shell inlay is from the base of the handle. The overall condition of the piece is fair and stable. According to Robin K. Wright, Burke Museum, 4/16/03, the face looks more Bella Bella (Heiltsuk).

The paint is black, white, and red. The fur is white. The felt is red and black. The string is red. The thread is red and black.