Mask
date: label: Accession Date
content: 1858
label: Collection Date
content: 1841
name: label: Collector
content: Capt. William Henry (?) McNeal (McNeill?)
label: Donor Name
content: United States Exploring Expedition
notes: label: Notes
content: MASK OF WOMAN'S FACE WITH LABRET. EARS CARVED IN BACKWARD "B" SHAPE. EYEBROWS AND HAIR PAINTED BLACK, AND A BLACK BORDER AROUND THE CHEEKS AND CHIN. RED STRIPES ACROSS THE CHEEKS, FOREHEAD, MOUTH AND CHIN. MARKS: WRITTEN ON MASK, "THE WOMEN OF A TRIBE NEAR FORT SIMPSON ON THE NW COAST OF AMERICA; LAT. 54° 30'. COLLECTOR CAPTAIN MCNEAL, HUDSON'S BAY COMPANY. SEE PORTRAIT MASKS FROM THE NORTHWEST COAST OF AMERICA, J.C.H. KING, P. 56 (KING IDENTIFIES AS POSSIBLY HAIDA). "MAGNIFICENT VOYAGERS," BY VIOLA & MARGOLIS, 1985, ILLUS. P. 141. IT APPEARS THAT THE RED PAINTED LINES ON THE FOREHEAD & CHEEKS HAVE BEEN REPAINTED SINCE CATALOGUED - SINCE THE LATITUDE AND DESCRIPTION APPEAR TO BE WRITTEN BENEATH THEM. EXHIBITED MAGNIFICENT VOYAGERS, NATIONAL MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY, 1985-86. EXHIBITED SITES "MAGNIFICENT VOYAGERS," 1987-89.
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.
label: Notes
content: FROM CARD: "FACIAL PAINTING IN RED; BLACK PAINTED EYEBROWS AND HAIR. Inscribed on forehead: "the women of a tribe near Fort Simpson on the NW Coast of America; lat. 54° 30'. ORIGINAL NUMBER IS EITHER 302 OR 303 IN THE PEALE CATALOG."
label: Notes
content: ILLUS. FIG. 34, P. 59, DISCUSSED P. 58, IN DOWN FROM THE SHIMMERING SKY BY PETER MACNAIR, VANCOUVER ART GALLERY, 1998. IDENTIFIED THERE BY PETER MACNAIR AS MASK REPRESENTING WOMAN WITH LABRET, KAIGANI HAIDA.
label: Notes
content: Illus. Fig. 66, p. 173, and described on p. 172 in Penney, David W. 2012. The American Indian: art & culture between myth & reality. Amsterdam: Museumshop De Nieuwe Kerk: "Mask, Haida, before 1840. This and a small group of additional masks and headdresses were made by an unknown Haida carver active before 1840 when they were purchased that year by the United States Exploring Expedition commanded by Lt. Charles Wilkes from Hudson's Bay Company Employees he met in what is now Oregon. For some time, scholars had confused these masks with the work of the so-called 'Jenna Master' due to the similarity of their style and the fact that they both created masks representing Haida women with large labrets. Close comparison of the masks and analysis of the historical record indicates that the Jenna master did not make the Wilkes masks and was most likely a generation older. Haida Gwaii had been frequented by whalers, traders in sea otter pelts, and other outsiders in the burgeoning trans-Pacific trade since the late 18th century and the earliest masks and carvings in museum collections today were purchased by these early visitors. Chiefs would have been reluctant to sell their ceremonial possessions so evidently carvers responded to those who desired to purchase masks and regalia by making carvings to sell or trade."
label: Notes
content: "Captain McNeal" of the Hudson's Bay Company may refer to William Henry McNeill, who did meet Wilkes/the U.S. Exploring Expedition in 1841. At the time of the expedition McNeill was Captain of the Hudson's Bay Company vessel S.S. Beaver, the first steamship on the Pacific coast,
label: Notes
content: Illus. Fig. 52, p. 57 in King, J. C. H. 1979. Portrait masks from the Northwest Coast of America. [New York]: Thames and Hudson. Identified there (p. 56) as: "Haida (?) mask of a woman wearing a labret. ... An inscription on the forehead ... says that it came from near Fort Simpson in Tsimshian territory, c. 1825-50 [mask was collected 1841]."
label: Record Last Modified
content: 30 Jul 2020
label: Specimen Count
content: 1
place: label: Place
content: Fort Simpson (Near), British Columbia, Canada, North America
topic: label: Topic
content: Ethnology
culture: label: Culture
content: Haida, Kaigani (?)
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: E2665-0
objectType: label: Object Type
content: Mask
physicalDescription: label: Width - Object
content: 20 cm
label: Height - Object
content: 24 cm
label: Depth - Object
content: 12 cm