Wooden Mask, from a grave with strands of human hair
date: label: Accession Date
content: 4 Jan 1886
name: label: Collector
content: Lt. U S N Timothy D. Bolles
label: Donor Name
content: Lt. U S N Timothy D. Bolles
notes: label: Notes
content: From card: "See: Proc. U.S.N.M., V. 15, (1892), Pl. 24, p. 221. The two eyes on this mask are Chinese coins (temple coins?); human hair fringe; opercula for teeth. Bears tag: 'Mask. Mythological being.' Illus.: Hndbk. N. Amer. Ind., Vol. 7, Northwest Coast, Fig. 6, pg. 123. Loan: R. H. Lowie Museum 12/31/64, Retd.: Feb. 15, 1966. Loan: Whitney Museum of American Art, Sept. 10, 1971, Retd: 2-9-72. LoanL Crossroads Sep 22, 1988. Loan Returned: Jan. 21, 1993. Illus. Crossroads of Continents catalogue; Fig. 442, p. 307." Identified in Crossroads catalogue: "the staring eyes in this old shaman's mask are made of large bronze Chinese 'temple coins' embossed with dragon and foliate forms. ... (coins possibly acquired from shipwreck or trade). In any case, they do well as mystic eyes in the round hollow sockets of a beaked humanoid spirit face, grinning with power."
label: Notes
content: Catalogue card identifies object as from Sitka, however, on p. 221 of "Chinese Relics in Alaska" by T. Dix Bolles, in Proceedings of the U.S. National Museum, Vol. 15, No. 899, 1892, Bolles talks about the provenance of this mask: "The grave from which it was taken is located near the Chilkat Village at the mouth of the Chilkat River, Alaska, where stand a row of six gravehouses on a narrow strip of land close to the river, with a swamp back of them. ... The grave ... was pointed out to me as being old and that of a medicine man who had flourished more than two hundred years ago, six successors having filled this office; each one living to a good old age."
label: Notes
content: This object is on loan to the Anchorage Museum at Rasmuson Center, from 2010 through 2027.
label: Record Last Modified
content: 30 Aug 2023
label: Specimen Count
content: 1
place: label: Place
content: Chilkat River (mouth), Alaska, United States, North America
topic: label: Topic
content: Ethnology
culture: label: Culture
content: Tlingit, Chilkat
setName: label: See more items in
content: Anthropology
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: NMNH - Anthropology Dept.
identifier: label: Accession Number
content: 017057
label: USNM Number
content: E76855-0
physicalDescription: label: Height - Object
content: 25.4 cm
label: Width - Object
content: 21.6 cm
label: Depth - Object
content: 11.4 cm