Chief's headdress with carved frontlet depicting a beaver with bird down and a train of ermine skins. [CAK 11/02/2010]

Collection type: Object
Description: Chief's headdress with carved frontlet depicting a beaver with bird down and a train of ermine skins. [CAK 11/02/2010]
Long description: Chief's headdress with carved frontlet depicting a beaver with bird down and a train of ermine skins. The frontlet is carved from maple. The beaver has two ears outlined in red and inlaid with haliotis shell. The face of the beaver is left unpainted, but the eyebrows are heavy and painted black except for a white stripe where they meet, the eyes are outlined in black and painted white with haliotis inlays for corneas. The beaver's mouth is painted red and the two front teeth are painted yellow. The body of the beaver is painted red. The front paws of the beaver point upwards and grasp either end of a 'stick' that runs through the beaver's mouth. The stick is outlined in red and filled with haliotis shell inlays. The hind paws of the beaver have haliotis inlays. The beaver's tail is shown on the front of his body. It is painted blue, carved with cross-hatching and has a human face inside. The face has similar eyebrows and eyes to the beaver, as well as a red mouth. There are scalloped inlays of haliotis shell below the beaver. The areas immediately to the sides of the beaver are painted blue. There is a vertical line of square haliotis inlays on either side of the beaver. Some of the inlays have small perforations. There is also an inlay fitted between the beaver's ears. The entire frontlet is outlined with red paint. The frontlet is positioned on the front of a cap that would allow the headdress to be worn on the head. The cap is made from woven from cedar bark and canvas or cotton textile. The sides and back of the cap are completely covered in bird down, most likely from a swan. A flap of leather is attached to the top of the cap near the back which was used to control the dispersal of down placed in the top of the headdress when its wearer was dancing. There is a frame for the headdress made from wood. Sea lion whiskers are tied to the top of the frame around the entire circumference with cedar twigs. A train made from a rice or flour sack is attached to the back of the headdress. Rows of ermine have been stitched onto the train, though many are now missing. [CAK 11/02/2010]
Geographical reference: Canada
Northern America > North America > Canada; British Columbia Haida Gwaii (Queen Charlotte Islands) NW Coast
Cultural groups: Haida
Person: Field collector George Gustav Heye; PRM source Irene Marguerite Beasley
Date / Period: Date made: Before 1938
Date collected: By 1938
Acquisition information: Donated: 1941
Materials and processes: Material Maple Wood Plant, Material Haliotis Shell, Material Swansdown Feather Bird, Material Animal Fur Skin, Material Cotton Seed Fibre Textile Plant, Material Wood Plant, Material Animal Leather Skin, Process Inlaid, Process Carved, Process Painted, Process Stitched, Process Bound
Dimensions: Length 290 mm whiskers, approx, Width: max 147 mm frontlet plaque, Length 740 mm trailer, Height: max 192 mm frontlet plaque
Object numbers: Accession number: 1941.2.102
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 headdress was viewed alongside two other chief’s headdresses on Friday Sept 11, 2009. Seeing the three headdresses together evoked a deep emotional response from all Haidas present. There was immense sadness. PRM staff was not prepared for this response. In the group who encountered the headdresses first, Vern and Diane said prayers and everyone sang songs. PRM staff were better able to prepare the afternoon group for what they were about to see. There were songs sung again, including the Chief’s song, in the afternoon. After people had sang their respect for the chiefs who once wore these headdresses, Haidas began to describe them. It was believed that these headdresses would have belonged to important chiefs because of the prestigious materials used to make them. The haliotis shell, or abalone, originated in California and moved along indigenous trade routes. Pieces found with holes perforated in them were even more valuable as this was an indication they had been strung together and given as a potlatch gift. This headdress was clearly identified as a Chief’s headdress. Christian White identified the figure carved on the frontlet as a beaver. He added that beaver is a crest used by members of the Eagle clan. Gaahlaay, Lonnie Young, identified a repair to the front top left corner of the frontlet. The maple used to carve the frontlet would have originated in the Skeena River valley on the mainland of British Columbia, or Alaska.
The sea lion whiskers appear to be tied on with cedar twigs, while the frame of this headdress, unlike 1891.49.11 and 1891.49.12, is made from wood rather than baleen. Nika Collison, Gwaai Edenshaw and Jaalen Edenshaw observed that where the ermine had been sewn on to the train was not strengthened by baleen, but by some kind of plant branch. Diane Brown proposed that it could be a snowberry twig.
The down surrounding the cap of the headdress is likely swansdown, but possibly eagle down. When eagle down is used, it was noted that the down would come from the body, not the feathers or wings.
The number of ermine skins added to the headdress would be the prerogative of the chief. Delegates noted that ermine were once on the verge of extinction of Haida Gwaii, but their numbers are again rising. There are a number of ermine skins missing from this headdress. [CAK 11/02/2010]
Robin Wright, Burke Museum Seattle says that this frontlet represents a beaver holding a stick in its front paws. The cross hatched part at the bottom is the tail. There is a human face decorating the tail.
The local names for headdress come from Robin Wright's book "Northern Haida Master Carvers", published by the University of Washington Press in 2001. The names can be found on page 125. [CAK 11/02/2010]
Robert Davidson, Haida artist and carver, examined this chief’s headdress on 7 April 2011. The following comments were recorded: The beaver is a common sub crest of the Eagle clan. The colour of the abalone [Halitois] shell is not common nowadays. It may have come from California. Sea lion whiskers are highly prized. To get white ermine skins the animals are caught in winter. The headdress may have been made from 1850s onwards. The frontlet was carved from hard wood. [MJD 17/05/2011]
Associated publications: Illustrated in colour on page adjacent to page 1 of ‘Gina Suuda Tl’l Xasii Came to tell something Art & Artist in Haida Society’ by Nika Collison (Haida Gwaii. Haida Gwaii Museum Press 2014). Caption: "Ceremonial chief's headdress Haida, c. 1880s. Beaver holding stick in hands, human face in tail. Maple wood frontlet, paint, abalone shell inlay, woven red cedar bark cap covered with cloth, wooden frame, beaver tail-shaped leather flap on top of cap, sea lion whiskers, bird down (most likely swanskin), cloth, ermine skin. Frontlet: 19.2 x 14.7, sea lion whiskers: 29, train: 74 Photo: Malcolm Osman, courtesy of Pitt Rivers Museum, University of Oxford, 1941.2.102. [SM (Verve) 1/12/2016]

Search terms: Status, Ritual and Ceremonial, Dance, Ornament, Figure, Head Ornament, Status Object, Ceremonial Object, Dance Accessory, Animal Figure