Helmet, Old Woman And Bird Mask
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 19TH OR EARLY 20TH CENTURY EXHIBIT LABEL WITH CARD: "HELMET IN FOUR PARTS. THE LONGEST PIECE HAS IN REAR A CARVED HEMISPHERICAL CAP FOR HEAD OF WEARER, AND IN FRONT A CARVED REPRESENTATION OF EYES, UPPER JAW, AND MUZZLE OF A LARGE FROG. ON TOP ON EACH SIDE OF THIS HEAD ARE TWO PIECES, LIKE WINGS, CARVED, PAINTED, AND ORNAMENTED WITH TUFTS OF WHITE COARSE HAIR. THE LOWER JAW OF THE FROG IS ATTACHED TO UPPER WITH A HINGE-JOINT, AND IS CARVED AND PAINTED ON UNDER SURFACE TO REPRESENT A MAN'S FACE. WORN BY NATIVE INDIANS OF BELLA BELLA. LENGTH, 19 INS. WIDTH, 12 INS. HEIGHT, 14 INS. BRITISH COLUMBIA, 1876. 20,575. COLLECTED BY J. G. SWAN."
label: Notes
content: Ian Reid (Heiltsuk), Clyde Tallio (Nuxalk) and Jennifer Kramer (anthropologist) of the delegation from Bella Bella, Bella Coola and Rivers Inlet communities of British Columbia made the following comments during the Recovering Voices Community Research Visit May 20th -24th, 2013. The sculpting and technique is classic Nuxalk style. The eyebrows are thick and it has a moon-shaped eye orbit. It looks to be some sort of sea creature and is made out of alder. The group believes the attribution as a frog mask in the exhibit label text (Note 1) is wrong, and also believes the mask is from Bella Coola, not Bella Bella.
label: Record Last Modified
content: 11 Sep 2020
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: E20575-0
objectType: label: Object Type
content: Mask
physicalDescription: label: Length - Object
content: 48 cm
label: Width - Object
content: 30 cm
label: Height - Object
content: 36 cm