Mask
date: label: Accession Date
content: 1858
label: Collection Date
content: 1841
name: label: Collector
content: Lt. Richard R. Waldron
label: Donor Name
content: United States Exploring Expedition
notes: label: Notes
content: CEDAR MASK, PORTRAIT OF A MAN'S FACE W/ WHISKERS AT THE SIDES OF HIS MOUTH AND CHIN. EARLY DRAWING OF THIS MASK IN S.I. ANNUAL REPORT III SHOWS FUR GLUED TO HAIR LINE AT TOP AND SIDES OF HEAD. ZIGZAG LINES OF TATTOOING FROM THE RIGHT SIDE OF HIS NOSE ACROSS HIS CHEEK. MARKS - WRITTEN ON FOREHEAD OF MASK, "OREGON, [THE SHIP] BY R. WALDRON - EX EX." PUBLICATION: BAE 3RD ANNUAL REPORT, PL. XIV, FIG. 24, P. 173 & 113 (WHERE IT WAS ATTRIBUTED AS POSSIBLY HAIDA). PORTRAIT MASKS FROM THE NORTHWEST COAST OF AMERICA BY J.C.H. KING, P. 54-55. "MAGNIFICENT VOYAGERS" BY VIOLA & MARGOLIS, ILLUSTRATED P. 141. EXHIBITED MAGNIFICENT VOYAGERS, NATIONAL MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY, 1985-86. EXHIBITED SITES "MAGNIFICENT VOYAGERS," 1987-89.THE MASK WAS ON PERMANENT EXHIBIT IN THE NORTHWEST COAST SECTION OF THE NORTH AMERICAN INDIAN HALL, NATIONAL MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY, AND REMOVED IN 1985.
label: Notes
content: FROM CARD: "CEDAR WOOD; REPRESENTING A MAN'S FACE; WITH WISKERS AT SIDE OF MOUTH AND ON TIP OF CHIN. LINE OF "TATOOING" [tattooing] FROM RIGHT SIDE OF NOSE ACROSS RIGHT CHEEK. ILLUS. BAE 3RD ANNUAL REPORT, PL. XIV, FIG. 24, P. 173."
label: Notes
content: Illus. Fig. 49, p. 55 in King, J. C. H. 1979. Portrait masks from the Northwest Coast of America. [New York]: Thames and Hudson. Identified there (p. 54) as: "Haida human face mask, very finely carved with a minimum of facial painting. It is made of wood, and fur, probably glued on with pitch or gum from pine trees, has been added to the head and face to indicate hair, moustache and beard."
label: Notes
content: Provenience note, in 1841 Oregon Territory encompassed the land from Russian Alaska to Spanish California and from the Pacific to the Continental Divide. The U.S. Exploring Expedition did not go to Canada, but did reach Oregon Territory in 1841, and carried out a hydrographic survey of the Columbia River from its mouth to the Cascades, as well as doing some surveying inland.They had dealings with Hudson's Bay Company staff during that time, and it is probable that the HBC is the source of a number of the Northwest Coast artifacts collected by the expedition. Peale catalogue identifies this artifact as "Wooden mask made by the natives of Nootka sound.", i.e. possibly Nootka?, which is further evidence for the HBC as the source of this mask.
label: Record Last Modified
content: 3 Feb 2022
label: Specimen Count
content: 1
place: label: Place
content: Vancouver Island (not certain) / Nootka Sound, Oregon Territory / British Columbia, United States / Canada, North America
topic: label: Topic
content: Ethnology
culture: label: Culture
content: Haida (?)
setName: label: See more items in
content: Anthropology
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: NMNH - Anthropology Dept.
identifier: label: Accession Number
content: 66A00050
label: USNM Number
content: E2658-0
objectType: label: Object Type
content: Mask
physicalDescription: label: Length - Object
content: 26.5 cm
label: Width - Object
content: 22 cm
label: Depth - Object
content: 12.5 cm