New York State Historical Association - Brief Article

Magazine Antiques, Sept, 2000 by Eleanor H. Gustafson

The Eugene and Clare Thaw Collection at the New York State Historical Association in Cooperstown, New York, continues to grow with judicious additions, including the two objects illustrated here. The figure shown above is one of several dozen known examples of the form, which is generally known as a seated human figure bowl. Believed to be more than two thousand years old, they are found from the southern Strait of Georgia in British Columbia to the lower reaches of the Rocky Mountains of Canada and the United States. This example is particularly well detailed, including a large rattlesnake that lies along the figure's backbone, prominent facial features, and a representation of a headdress made of carved cedar bark or other material. The peg at the top of the head probably once had cedar bark or human hair bound to it. The role of such figures has not been determined but they are believed to have been used in purification rituals associated with female puberty rites or as vessels to hold holy water for sham ans to use in seeing into the spirit world or divining the future.

The Tlingit war helmet from southeastern Alaska dates from about 1780 to about 1840. Such helmets were used in inter-tribal wars and during the first military encounters between the Tlingits and the Russians at the turn of the nineteenth century. This unusual example accurately renders a rodent--a mouse or possibly a marmot. The wood grain runs from ear to ear, making it more difficult to carve, but also more resistant to a downward blow on the warrior's head. The fighter peeked out from a narrow slit between the helmet and a bentwood visor, which is not shown. The increased use of firearms eventually made such helmets redundant.