Mountain sheep horn spoon with carved ladle and underside of bowl, and haliotis shell inlays. [CAK 16/06/2009]

Collection type: Object
Description: Mountain sheep horn spoon with carved ladle and underside of bowl, and haliotis shell inlays. [CAK 16/06/2009]
Long description: Mountain sheep horn spoon with carved ladle and underside of bowl, and haliotis shell inlays. This feast spoon has a narrow handle carved in the round. At the top of the handle is a long beaked bird with two circular segments on the top of its head. The beak runs down the middle of the handle. The eyes and wings are clearly visible. Under this bird is a second bird, likely a thunderbird, with a hooked beak, ears, eyes and teeth visible. The eyes have been inlaid with circular pieces of haliotis shell. The handle widens beneath the thunderbird and is curved to form the bowl of the spoon. It is smooth on the obverse but carved on the reverse. Two round eyes are carved on the reverse where the handle gives way to the bowl. Moving up the handle are grooves identified as suckers or a backbone. The top of the handle is carved with the back of the long-beaked bird. The reverse of the bowl of the handle is carved with the body of the octopus or squid. A small piece is missing from one side of the spoon and there is evidence of a local repair using a small copper nail. [CAK 25/02/2010]
Geographical reference: Canada
Northern America > North America > Canada; British Columbia Haida Gwaii (Queen Charlotte Islands) NW Coast
Cultural groups: Haida
Person: Maker Unknown Maker; Field collector Unknown Collector; PRM source Augustus Henry Lane Fox Pitt Rivers founding collection
Date / Period: Date made: Before 1874
Date collected: By 1874
Acquisition information: Donated: 1884
Materials and processes: Material Sheep Horn Animal, Material Haliotis Shell, Material Copper Metal, Process Carved, Process Inlaid, Process Steamed, Process Moulded, Process Repaired (local)
Dimensions: Length: max 315 mm
Object numbers: Accession number: 1884.5.13 PR Cat other PR nos: 2159
Research and responses: The following information comes from Haida delegates who worked with the museum’s collection in September 2009 as part of the project “Haida Material Culture in British Museums: Generating New Forms of Knowledge”:
This spoon was viewed alongside other spoons and feast dishes on Wednesday Sept 9 2009. There was much discussion about the figures carved on the spoon. Delegates believed the long beaked bird at the top of the handle could be a cormorant, heron or possibly a thunderbird. They did not think it was a raven as ravens do not usually have such long beaks. The bottom figure (i.e. near the bowl of the spoon) was most frequently identified as a thunderbird because of its large eyes and teeth. There was a suggestion that it could be a hawk. Delegates noted that thunderbirds and hawks are both crests of Raven lineages. The figure on the reverse of the spoon was thought to be either an octopus or squid. The design was thought to be more prominent when viewed from the reverse and held upside down. The features used to identify this as an octopus (nuu in Old Massett or naaw in Skidegate) included the face with the shell inlays for eyes and a beak, the ridges on the back of the spoon identified as suckers, and the legs along the back of the spoon. Another delegate thought the ridges were the backbone of an animal and that rather than an octopus, the features belonged possibly to a squid. The figure of Kuugin Jaad, or Mouse Woman, was identified under the octopus' or squid's legs. The figures depicted on the spoon are somewhat unusual as spoons tend to depict Raven, often in transformation, but there does not appear to be a raven figure on this spoon. Delegates also made a connection between this spoon and 1917.53.286 which also features a thunderbird.
It was observed that there was variation in the carving style on the handle and that the right hand side was not as finely carved as the left hand side. People thought this could indicate that an apprentice helped to complete the spoon. Delegates were also interested in the repair on the spoon, achieved by adding a small copper nail. As copper is extremely valuable on Haida Gwaii, delegates thought this spoon must be a spoon of wealth and status as well. The spoon was thought to be made from mountain sheep horn. During discussion of this spoon Kwiaawah Jones noted that animals not originally found on Haida Gwaii but used by Haidas as crests are generally given fins (for example, a finned grizzly bear) -- an indication that they travelled to the islands from the mainland.
The spoons as a collection elicited a lot of discussion amongst delegates. They discussed whether the different varieties of spoons reflected differences in the owner's rank, or differences in function (i.e. everyday use vs. use at a feast). It was thought that the plain spoons (i.e. those collected by Charles Harrison, 1891.49.50- .51) were for everyday use. Delegates were also interested in the greenish hue of many of the spoons and this was identified as unusual. One delegate offered that, in general, mountain goat horn was used for smaller spoons because they have a narrower shape to their horns. People noted that the shape of a spoon can be altered by heat (i.e. from the soup itself). [CAK 25/02/2010]
There is a very similar object shown in Haida Art GF MacDonald [Douglas and MacIntyre Vancouver 1998] described as feast spoons made of mountain goat horn [AP Leverhulme project on founding collection 1995-1998]
This object was viewed and confirmed as Haida by tribal members Vincent Collison, Lucille Bell, and Kwiiawah Jones on 7 September 2007 in preparation for a planned Haida community visit to PRM in 2009 [L Peers, 24/01/2008]
On pages 211-12 of the Dictionary of Alaskan Haida compiled by Jordan Lachler for Sealaska in May 2009, a number of variations on the Alaskan Haida words for spoon, as well as tools used in the production of spoons, are provided. This dictionary can be accessed through the Haida Research Visit digital archive stored with the Accession Registers. [CAK 25/02/2010]
On 5 September 2012 this object was examined using a portable X-ray Fluorescence device (pXRF) as part of the research conducted by Lenore Thompson on a selection of Northwest coast First Nations metal artefacts for a MA dissertation at the University of Sheffield. An abridged report of these findings By Lenore Thompson and Roger CP Doonan (May 2013) are in the related documents file for 1890.39.11. [ZM 07/05/2014]

Search terms: Food and Drink, Status, Figure, Spoon, Food Accessory, Status Object, Bird Figure, Animal Figure