Mask
date: label: Accession Date
content: 1 Nov 1878
name: label: Donor Name
content: Edward W. Nelson
notes: label: Notes
content: FROM CARD: "ILLUS. IN THE FAR NORTH CATALOG, NAT. GALL. OF ART, 1973, P. 127. ILLUS.: P.63, PL.23, CELEBRATIONS CATALOGUE, SMITHSONIAN PRESS, 1982. 33,114. LOANED TO THE NATIONAL GALLERY OF ART OCTOBER 20, 1972. RETURNED 5-29-73. LOANED TO RENWICK 7/1/81. RETURNED FOR CONSERVATION 2/1982. MASK, CA. 1850-77. CROSSROADS SEP 22 1988. LOAN RETURNED: JAN 21 1993. ESKIMO; NORTON SOUND, ALASKA. WOOD; WOODEN PEGS; WILLOW ROOT; ROOT LASHINGS;" CONT. SEE CARD. Illus. Fig. 436, p. 306 in Fitzhugh, William W., and Aron Crowell. 1988. Crossroads of continents: cultures of Siberia and Alaska. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press. Identified there as Bering Sea Eskimo Tunghak Inua Mask. "This mask reverses the typical inua mask in which the human inua appears in the eye of a normal animal. In this mask a remarkably fierce tunghak with a thumbless, "pierced" palm, sporting seal flipper and kayak bow attachments, is seen with its prey, a meek seal, in its eye."
label: Notes
content: This object is on loan to the Anchorage Museum at Rasmuson Center, from 2010 through 2027. One additional mask appendage - flipper - in exhibit Community Consultation Room. Harpoon head attachment and bird attachment (possibly part of mask?) not on loan.
label: Notes
content: Source of the information below: Smithsonian Arctic Studies Center Alaska Native Collections: Sharing Knowledge website, by Aron Crowell, entry on this artifact https://alaska.si.edu/record.asp?id=542 , retrieved 10-26-2021; see web page for additional information: Mask, Yup'ik. This ceremonial dance mask apparently depicts the kind of powerful tunraaq spirit that lived in the moon and controlled the availability of sea mammals. The spirit's hand is shown with no thumb and a hole in its palm, symbolizing the community's desire that it not hold on to all of the animals, allowing some to return for spring hunting. The face of a seal emerges from the left side of the face and other mask appendages include the bow of a kayak and a fin, possibly of a whale. The spirit has pointed teeth and an eye encircled in black, signifying spiritual vision.
label: Record Last Modified
content: 20 Jan 2022
label: Specimen Count
content: 1
place: label: Place
content: Magemut, Yukon River, Mouth, Tundra South Of, Alaska, United States, North America
topic: label: Topic
content: Ethnology
culture: label: Culture
content: Eskimo, Yup'ik
setName: label: See more items in
content: Anthropology
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: NMNH - Anthropology Dept.
identifier: label: Accession Number
content: 78A00080
label: USNM Number
content: E33114-0
objectType: label: Object Type
content: Mask
physicalDescription: label: Length - Object
content: 45 cm