- Collection type
- Object
- Description
- Wooden paintbrush with animal hair bristles. [CAK 11/05/2010]
- Long description
- Wooden paintbrush with animal hair bristles. The paintbrush tapers as it goes from the bristles to the mid-section of the brush and then widens where it is held in the hand, before narrowing again at the end. The bristles have been trimmed and are barely visible. A thin strip of cedar bark is wound around the brush and would have originally bound the bristles to the brush. Remnants of blue, red and black pigments are visible on all parts of the paintbrush. [CAK 11/05/2010] Roughly carved brushes, painting ends missing bristles and bound in fibre. [JC 13 11 1996] Paint brushes of various lengths, all showing signs of use - red, black, and some blue paint on brushes and bristles. Quills are bound with fibre to one end to serve as the bristles. [NM 21 2 1997]
- 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 Cedar Wood Plant, Material Cedar Bark Fibre Plant, Material Animal Hair, Material Sinew, Process Carved, Process Bound
- Dimensions
- Length: max 205 mm
- Object numbers
- Accession number: 1891.49.74
- 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 brush was viewed alongside other paintbrushes on Monday Sept 14, 2009. This is one of seven similar paintbrushes [1891.49.72 - .78]. Gaahlaay (Lonnie Young) identified the material binding the bristles to the brush as sinew and noted that the sinew would be tied on when wet, and then would tighten as it dried. He believed the bristles are made from fur. Ruth Gladstone Davies thought the material binding the bristles was cedar bark. Other delegates identified the handles of the brushes as being made from cedar wood, and the lashings from cedar bark. [CAK 11/05/2010]
Search terms: Tool, Paint-brush