FLORAL JOURNEY (AUTRY MUSEUM, LOS ANGELES, CA, USA, 2014)

this item is a chilkat blanket fragment

Red saddlebag with five tassels, rectangular in shape with a tapered point at the bottom edge. A geometric design embroidered in the centre portion of the bag represents a “cow in the tree/bush” motif. The design itself is embroidered with brown sheep’s wool yarn. A light brown yarn is stitched around the design as a border. There are five tassels at the base of the bag each with three sections of horse hair. Around each of the tassels there is a blue, yellow and red pattern wrapped around the tassel itself. Many of the tassels are knotted. The horse hair is tied to the tassel with a red-orange piece of material. The bag also has a strap that has light brown, orange, yellow and green lines. On either side of the bag where the strap begins are three tassels each with a different coloured end (orange blue and yellow). Also attached to the tassels are several beads (black and white) and round metal discs.

Small box drum. Drum has skin stretched over both sides of a wooden frame. Green ribbon band nailed on outer edge, the ribbon extended as a loop on one corner. Multicoloured fabric decorations are on all four corners.

A set of two brooches on a brown piece of paper with an inscription on both sides (part c). One brooch is a small yarn doll (part a) with a green dress, tan-coloured skin, blue eyes, a red mouth, and black hair, with arms open at the sides and a safety pin at the back. The second is a metal brooch in the shape of an eagle, with its wings outstretched (part b).

Black and gold "Rey Caporal" mask (part a) with large bristly black beard and silver pipe and hat. Blue eyes are framed by fine gold tinsel. The mouth has six white teeth and a thick bottom lip, which fades from pink to blue and is decorated with white and black stripes. The tongue is red with a silver border. Curling black hair wraps around the back of the head into the beard. The beard has a white, tarp-like backing. The hat has a box at the front, resting on the brim, which contains five tubes for the five woolly sticks (parts b-f). The sticks alternate colours without the outside and centre sticks having yellow tops and brown bases, and the other two sticks having white tops and yellow bottoms. A cardboard placard (part g) with gold trim sits in front of the sticks.

'Spirit of the Ancestors' - This apron is the only contemporary Chilkat style weaving in the Burke's collection, and was woven by the only male Native weaver known to use this technique. Many believe that Tsimshian women originated this complex technique of weaving in the late 18th or early 19th centuries. This apron depicts a Raven with its wings outstretched.