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1891.49.63

Oblong horn dish with perforation at one end. [CAK 19/04/2010]

1891.49.63

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Collection type
Object
Description
Oblong horn dish with perforation at one end. [CAK 19/04/2010]
Long description
Oblong horn dish with perforation at one end. The dish is made from a single piece of horn that has been steamed, moulded and carved into shape. The inside and outside of the dish is smooth. The long sides flare out slightly from the base. Of the shorter ends, one is the same width as the body of the dish with a gradual curve, whereas the other is narrower, bent, and perforated. The vessel is brown in colour and the grain of the horn is clearly visible. [CAK 19/04/2010]
Geographical reference
Canada
Northern America > North America > Canada
British Columbia Haida Gwaii (Queen Charlotte Islands) NW Coast
Cultural groups
Haida
Person
Field collector Charles Harrison
PRM source Charles Harrison
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, Process Steamed, Process Moulded, Process Carved, Process Perforated
Dimensions
Depth: max 93 mm, Width: max 122 mm, Length: max 254 mm
Object numbers
Accession number: 1891.49.63
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 bowl was viewed alongside other horn and wood dishes on Wednesday Sept 9, 2009. This dish shares similar characteristics with 1891.49.64 - .66, and 1891.49.69. Lucille Bell observed that the holes in these dishes may function in the same way as the holes in the handles of spoons, along the dishes to be hung on a wall when not in use. Diane Brown wondered if the hole in the dish indicated where a rivet would have been, and that the dish was actually a spoon missing its handle. Gwaai Edenshaw offered that rivets were used after something had been broken, and that originally they would have been one piece. Delegates wondered if these scoop-shaped horn vessels were used for drinking out of. In terms of their function as either dishes or spoons, Nika Collison said she was seventy per cent certain it was a bowl. [CAK 19/04/2010]

Search terms: Vessel, Food and Drink, Figure, Bowl, Food Accessory, Spoon