Made of argillite carved and polished; rim inlaid with bone rectangles; interior is incised killer whale with mouth inlaid with shark's teeth; 3 bone rectangles missing, several teeth missing; 1 area badly damaged. Reg Davidson notes that figure is a female shaman holding rattles. Massive incising, massive and minute, form lines.
Donor:
W. Barclay Stephens
Collection place:
Masset, Graham Island, Queen Charlotte Islands
Verbatim coll. place:
Canada; British Columbia; Queen Charlotte Islands; Masset
Culture or time period:
Haida
Maker or artist:
Charles Edenshaw and Master of the Chicago Settee
Collector:
Willie J. Clark Dodd
Collection date:
1887-1890
Object type:
ethnography
Object class:
Plates (general, dishes)
Accession date:
1936
Context of use:
Made for sale.
Department:
Native US and Canada (except California)
Dimensions:
diameter 39 centimeters
Comment:
Reg Davidson, October 1990 says that this...illustrates the "Wasco story". Wasco = sea wolf. See Macnair, Peter and Alan Hoover, "The Magic Leaves", fig. 129, pp. 135-36 and fig. 134. The incised figure does not have a dorsal fin(s) as does a proper Wasco so attribution a question. Canadian Museum History has similar platter, per Brendan Malony.
Loans:
S1945-1946 #4: Winfield Scott Wellington (March 11, 1946–October 28, 1955), S1951-1952 #1: University of California, Los Angeles (March 15, 1952–returned by 1957), S1966-1967 #77: Physical Education (UC Berkeley) (March 9, 1967–March 9, 1967), S1973-1974 #49: University Art Museum (UC Berkeley) (November 4, 1973–August 8, 1974), and S1974-1975 #41: Palo Alto Cultural Center (January 6, 1975–March 19, 1975)