Vancouver Island (not certain) / Nootka Sound, Oregon Territory / British Columbia, United States / Canada, North America
Accession Date:
1858
Collection Date:
1841
Notes:
CEDAR MASK, PORTRAIT OF A MAN'S FACE W/ WHISKERS AT THE SIDES OF HIS MOUTH AND CHIN. EARLY DRAWING OF THIS MASK IN S.I. ANNUAL REPORT III SHOWS FUR GLUED TO HAIR LINE AT TOP AND SIDES OF HEAD. ZIGZAG LINES OF TATTOOING FROM THE RIGHT SIDE OF HIS NOSE ACROSS HIS CHEEK. MARKS - WRITTEN ON FOREHEAD OF MASK, "OREGON, [THE SHIP] BY R. WALDRON - EX EX." PUBLICATION: BAE 3RD ANNUAL REPORT, PL. XIV, FIG. 24, P. 173 & 113 (WHERE IT WAS ATTRIBUTED AS POSSIBLY HAIDA). PORTRAIT MASKS FROM THE NORTHWEST COAST OF AMERICA BY J.C.H. KING, P. 54-55. "MAGNIFICENT VOYAGERS" BY VIOLA & MARGOLIS, ILLUSTRATED P. 141. EXHIBITED MAGNIFICENT VOYAGERS, NATIONAL MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY, 1985-86. EXHIBITED SITES "MAGNIFICENT VOYAGERS," 1987-89.THE MASK WAS ON PERMANENT EXHIBIT IN THE NORTHWEST COAST SECTION OF THE NORTH AMERICAN INDIAN HALL, NATIONAL MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY, AND REMOVED IN 1985.
FROM CARD: "CEDAR WOOD; REPRESENTING A MAN'S FACE; WITH WISKERS AT SIDE OF MOUTH AND ON TIP OF CHIN. LINE OF "TATOOING" [tattooing] FROM RIGHT SIDE OF NOSE ACROSS RIGHT CHEEK. ILLUS. BAE 3RD ANNUAL REPORT, PL. XIV, FIG. 24, P. 173."
Illus. Fig. 49, p. 55 in King, J. C. H. 1979. Portrait masks from the Northwest Coast of America. [New York]: Thames and Hudson. Identified there (p. 54) as: "Haida human face mask, very finely carved with a minimum of facial painting. It is made of wood, and fur, probably glued on with pitch or gum from pine trees, has been added to the head and face to indicate hair, moustache and beard."
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. Peale catalogue identifies this artifact as "Wooden mask made by the natives of Nootka sound.", i.e. possibly Nootka?, which is further evidence for the HBC as the source of this mask.
