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.

This bentwood corner bowl was made by the distinctly Northwest Coast process called kerfing. A single plank of wood is first trimmed, notched , steamed and bent. The bottom and sides were then pegged or sewn together with tree root. Finally the bowl is decorated with carving, painting and adding operculum shell trims. The large bowl would have been used for dried food. The abstracted design on the sides represents a killer whale.

Mammalian tooth, incisor or canine, probably from a whale or sea lion. [CAK 23/06/2009]

In the Spirit of the Ancestors-This robe was worn by Haida artist Reg Davidson at a potlatch he hosted in Old Massett, B.C. in February 2002. The designs on the central panel are called tattoo designs, after a traditional pattern that was tattooed onto the backs of Tlingit noble women's hands. Davidson's robe was inspired by an old robe documented in a sketch made by Pavel Mikhailov on a voyage to the Northwest Coast in 1827.

The hide is sea lion.

The twine is cotton. The rope is hemp.