Skip to main content

Link to Smithsonian homepage

Smithsonian Music

Main menu

  • Calendar
  • Listen
  • Learn
    • Ask Smithsonian
    • Collections Spotlights
    • Music Stories
  • Watch
  • Blog

Basketry Crest Hat, Painted

Object Details

Notes
From card: "Red, black, and several shades of blue design with two leather chin straps. The crown is supported by a wooden inner support. 4/18/1967: loaned to Vancouver Art Gall. 12/13/67: returned by Vancouver. 4/17/67: Loan Data: ok but very fragile. Loan: Crossroads Sep 22, 1988. Loan returned: Jan 21, 1993. Illus. Crossroads of Continents catalogue; Fig. 103, p. 92. Ilus.: Hndbk. N. Amer. Ind., Vol. 7, Northwest Coast, Fig. 13, pg. 253." Crossroads catalogue identifies as a spruce-root hat, and says that the formline design is of an orca, or killer whale, a leading crest of the Raven moiety of the Haida. Per Dawn Glinsmann, 7-15-2005, this hat has the Haida jog along with a Haida braid. For small illustration see Hat 106, p. 221 in Glinsmann, Dawn. 2006. Northern Northwest Coast spruce root hats. Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Washington, 2006.
This object is on loan to the Anchorage Museum at Rasmuson Center, from 2010 through 2027.
Source of the information below: Smithsonian Arctic Studies Center Alaska Native Collections: Sharing Knowledge website, by Aron Crowell, entry on this artifact http://www.alaska.si.edu/record.asp?id=627, retrieved 5-6-2012: Crest hat, Haida. This woven spruce-root hat is painted with abstract form-lines representing the Killer Whale, a crest owned by all of the Raven moiety clans. In traditional stories, killer whales are the rulers of the ocean; they are fearsome creatures that break canoes and drown the people inside, who then become whales themselves. Leading men and women wore hats with painted clan designs at ceremonial occasions such as the great house-building feasts. This hat from Masset, British Columbia has leather chin straps and a wooden frame inside to support the crown.
Record Last Modified
4 Feb 2022
Specimen Count
1
Data Source
NMNH - Anthropology Dept.
Collector
James G. Swan
Donor Name
James G. Swan
Accession Date
21 Dec 1883
Collection Date
July 1883
Height - Object
15 cm
Diameter - Object
60 cm
Length - Object
63 cm
Object Type
Hat
There are restrictions for re-using this image. For more information, visit the Smithsonian's Terms of Use page .
International media Interoperability Framework
IIIF provides researchers rich metadata and media viewing options for comparison of works across cultural heritage collections. Visit the IIIF page to learn more.
View manifest View in Mirador Viewer

Link to Smithsonian homepage

  • About
  • Terms of Use
  • Privacy
  • YouTube
  • Twitter
Back to Top