Argilite Medicine Woman
Date1899
Mediumargillite
DimensionsOther: 16.5 × 5.4 cm (6 1/2 × 2 1/8 in.)
ClassificationsCeremonial Objects
Paper Field ReferencesCMH VII-B-814
Object numberHRC 00814
Description'she chants incatations while she sits, shaking a round rattel and wielding a magical baton over her left shoulder. to add to her powers, the raven, bill forward, squats on the pointed cap on her head and spreads his wings over her. two downward pointing feathrers are tattooed on her right cheek. they are possibly either a symbol of a secret spirit or her family crest. as sex makes little difference in these mystic activities, the sole mark of womanhood here is the long hair streaming down the back. the onlly apparent costume is a skirt of red cedar bark. the carved bone peg through the nose is the identification mark, as it were, of Dixon and his fellow carvers. the face expresses great vigour and energy, the nose is strongly aquiline, a form never seen in human beings among the real natives but obviously the whim of the caver' Barbeau.Published References'Medicine Men on the North Pacific Coast' Marius Barbeau
On View
Not on viewCollections
1872
1872
Circa 1911
Circa 1900
