Mask
date: label: Accession Date
content: 1861
name: label: Donor Name
content: National Institute
notes: label: Notes
content: FROM CARD: "REPAIRED AND TREATED AT CONSERVATION 5/74." INVENTORIED 1974. LOANED TO SMITHSONIAN CENTENNIAL COMM., A&I 12-16-75." RETURNED FEB 16 1995."
label: Notes
content: Illustrated and described (listed as incorrect catalog number 27386) in McQuail, Lisa. 1997. "Treasures of Two Nations: Thai Royal Gifts to the United States of America" Smithsonian Institution. p. 135
label: Notes
content: Anthropology catalogue ledger book first identified this as Japanese, from the Wilkes collection/U.S. Exploring Expedition. It was later reidentified as from Thailand, and donor in ledger book modified (in error) to list it as King of Siam collection, rather than Wilkes. However, it seems that it is from the National Institute collection (probably either accession # 81 or 135), as there is a label glued inside the mask which says "W. Museum; J. Varden" (i.e. Washington Museum, John Varden). In 1836 John Varden had opened a public gallery in his home and called it the "Washington Museum" (or "Washington City Museum"). In June 1841, a committee from the newly established (1840) National Institute accepted the collection, and soon thereafter it was removed to and became a part of the institute in the new United States Patent Office Building. With the creation of the Smithsonian Institution in 1846, the prominence of the National Institute declined, and it was officially disbanded in 1862 when its charter ran out. The National Institute collections, including those of Varden, were transferred to the Smithsonian. There definitely was material in the National Institute from Siam/Thailand. See pp. 495-496 in National Institute for the Promotion of Science. 1841[-46]. Bulletin of the proceedings of the National Institute for the Promotion of Science, where it is noted that a "box of curiosities, &c." from "His Royal Highness, Prince Momfanoi of Bankok, Siam" (Momfanoi, a.k.a. Prince Chuthamani, a.k.a. Phra Pinklao, brother of Mongkut, King Rama IV), was donated to the National Institute. Also see the description of National Institute Exhibit Case 9, on p. 21 in National Institute for the Promotion of Science, Washington, D.C. A Popular Catalogue of the Extraordinary Curiosities In the National Institute, Arranged In the Building Belonging to the Patent Office. Washington: A. Hunter, 1855. A mask is described on display there that seems to be this mask, including the misidentification of it as Japanese: "A hideous Japanese [sic] mask with a gilt band, inlaid with bits of colored glass, serrated wings and tusks." Most of the objects in Case 9 were from the U.S. Exploring Expedition collection, which would explain why this object was originally catalogued by the Smithsonian cataloguer as part of that collection. Publication is online: http://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=njp.32101013254337;view=1up;seq=24 . This mask was catalogued into the Smithsonian collections in 1867, at the same time and in the same catalogue number series as the U.S. Exploring Expedition/Wilkes collection. The Wilkes collection was formerly deposited in the National Institute, and was part of the "45 WAGON LOADS OF COLLECTIONS, SPECIMENS OF NATURAL HISTORY, CASTS, BOOKS, ETC. PROPERTY OF THE NATIONAL INSTITUTE TRANSFERRED FROM THE PATENT OFFICE" to the Smithsonian in 1861. As it appears the mask was also part of the National Institute collections, and was transferred to the Smithsonian at the same time as the Wilkes collection, the mask has been listed under the National Institute accession number of 135, for the year 1861.
label: Record Last Modified
content: 14 Aug 2020
label: Specimen Count
content: 1
place: label: Place
content: Thailand, Asia
topic: label: Topic
content: Ethnology
culture: label: Culture
content: Siamese
setName: label: See more items in
content: Anthropology
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: NMNH - Anthropology Dept.
identifier: label: Accession Number
content: 000135
label: USNM Number
content: E3930-0
objectType: label: Object Type
content: Mask