Dancing Mask For Chiefs
date: label: Accession Date
content: 1876
name: label: Collector
content: James G. Swan
label: Donor Name
content: James G. Swan
notes: label: Notes
content: FROM CARD: "LOAN: CROSSROADS SEP 22 1988. ILLUS.: CROSSROADS OF CONTINENTS CATALOGUE; FIG. 183, P.153. LOAN RETURNED: JAN 21 1993." FROM 19TH OR EARLY 20TH CENTURY EXHIBIT LABEL WITH CARD: "HEAD-DRESS.---HEAD OF WOOD, HOLLOWED OUT UNDERNEATH TO FIT HEAD OF WEARER, AND CARVED AND PAINTED ON EXTERIOR TO REPRESENT HEAD OF FISH, THE EYES, MOUTH, AND SPINES BEING OF COPPER. THE GILLS, FINS, BACKBONE, AND TAIL ARE OF WOOD, CARVED, AND PAINTED. THE BODY IS OF CANVAS, STUFFED WITH DRIED GRASS. WORN IN CEREMONIAL DANCES BY A CHIEF OF INDIANS OF BELLA BELLA. LENGTH OF HEAD, 11 INS. BODY, 20 INS. TAIL, 15 INS. TOTAL, 46 INS. BRITISH COLUMBIA, 1876. 20,573. COLLECTED BY J. G. SWAN." Crossroads of Continents catalogue identifies as a Sculpin headdress or "back mask", which would have been worn by a crouching dancer. "This spectacular mask has the dorsal ridge, fins, and spines of the sculpin joined to a body of muslin stuffed with grass. The sculpin's characteristic features are overlaid with copper, a metal of high value and prestige. Eyes are of iron, and an inlay (probably copper) once shone in the nostrils. Painting in black, trade vermillion, and blue (probably derived from the iron silicate mineral, celadonite) elaborates the carving." IDENTIFIED AS BELLA BELLA [HEILTSUK] MASK REPRESENTING SCULPIN, C. 1860, ON P. 189 IN DOWN FROM THE SHIMMERING SKY BY PETER MACNAIR, VANCOUVER ART GALLERY, 1998.
label: Record Last Modified
content: 3 Mar 2025
label: Specimen Count
content: 1
place: label: Place
content: British Columbia, Canada, North America
topic: label: Topic
content: Ethnology
culture: label: Culture
content: Bella Bella (Heiltsuk, Haíłzaqv)
setName: label: See more items in
content: Anthropology
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: NMNH - Anthropology Dept.
identifier: label: Accession Number
content: 004686
label: USNM Number
content: E20573-0
objectType: label: Object Type
content: Mask
physicalDescription: label: Length - Head
content: 28 cm
label: Length - Body
content: 51 cm
label: Length - Tail
content: 38 cm
label: Length - Total
content: 117 cm