- Collection type
- Object
- Description
- Horn dish with local repairs and face carved at one end. [ZM 14/11/2005]
- Long description
- Horn dish with local repairs and face carved at one end. The scoop is made from a single piece of mountain sheep horn that has been steamed and moulded into shape and then carved. It is deep, though one end widens out, flattens out, and comes to a blunt point. The other end extends upward to form a handle and is carved on the outside with a human face. On one side of the spoon, near the rim, are small perforations on either side of a seam in the grain of the horn. String has been tied through the holes, presumably to keep the horn from splitting. The spoon is dark brown in colour and the grain of the horn is visible. [CAK 19/04/2010]
- Geographical reference
- British Columbia Haida Gwaii (Queen Charlotte Islands) NW Coast
- Cultural groups
- Haida
- Date / Period
- Date made: Before 1882-1890
- Date collected
- Between 1882 and 1890 ?
- Acquisition information
- Purchased: 02/03/1891
- Materials and processes
- Material Sheep Horn Animal, Material String, Process Steamed, Process Moulded, Process Carved, Process Repaired (local)
- Dimensions
- Depth: max 163 mm, Width: max 138 mm, Length: max 250 mm
- Object numbers
- Accession number: 1891.49.68
- 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 vessel was viewed alongside other horn and wood dishes on Wednesday Sept 9, 2009. Delegates wondered if this would be used to drink out of. Nika Collison wondered about the 'handle' which may have been made short on purpose, or could have been nicely finished after a break. The material was identified as mountain sheep, because it is a wider horn with a thicker grain than mountain goat horn (which is more often found in long, thin, and elaborately carved spoons). Billy Yovanovich commented on the defined chin on the human figure on the handle and thought this was a feature he has seen repeated on other objects. [CAK 19/04/2010]
Although listed as a bowl, the object may be the ladle of a spoon given its general shape, lack of flat bottom and taller, curved end where a handle may be attached. [CAK 05/05/2009]
Search terms: Food and Drink, Figure, Vessel, Food Accessory, Bowl, Spoon