Haida Villages - Furnishings

Photograph by Charles F. Newcombe, 1901.

The communal seat of honour of Chief Skotsgai of Kaisun village. This piece led Bill Holm to name the artist who made it "the Master of the Chicago Settee" and to identify many other works by this unknown carver in various museums. The seat was collected at Skidegate in 1901 by Charles F. Newcombe and is now in the Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago (79595).

The chief's seat of honour in each house was located along the back platform on the central axis of the house, facing the door. The seat was thought of as a box that protected the spirit of the chief. Hence, the decoration is typically either the Konankada design or a crest belonging to the chief. The decoration on a chief's seat is on the inside, so the seated chief was shown to public view surrounded by his carved and painted crests.

Boxes and Chests

Food storage boxes were usually not decorated, but occasionally one such as this example was painted with the image of the supreme Chief of the Seas, the being ultimately responsible for all of the other sea creatures that the Haida used for food. Their flesh was under its guardianship while in such a box, which in turn honoured that supernatural being. Collected at Masset circa 1895 by Charles F. Newcombe.

This painted bentwood storage box shows the typical lashing and knotwork of twisted cedar bark cordage used to secure the contents during transport in freight canoes. Collected on Haida Gwaii before 1901 by Charles F. Newcombe.

Boxes were used to store food stuffs, clothing, regalia and ritual paraphernalia such as rattles and whistles. Some boxes were simply made of bent sheets of cedar bark sewn at the corners and base to provide disposable containers for trade items, while others were more substantial and durable bentwood boxes. Bentwood boxes for food ranged in capacity from a couple of litres (quarts) up to 225 L (50 gallons). George M. Dawson observed that boxes of eulachon grease brought to the islands for trade by the Tsimshian required two men each to pack them up the beach from the canoes.

Bentwood storage boxes destined to store important wealth objects were provided with a guardian spirit decoration in the form of supernatural marine beings and more familiar animals. They also had heavy plank lids, whose edges were decorated with vertical rows of opercula shells. The lids were tied in place with elaborate knotwork of cedar bark cordage.

The design field of a bentwood box has provided a constant challenge for art historians and native scholars alike to interpret. Although the design is standard, the variations are endless and intriguing. The "front" of the box normally depicts Konankada (the Chief of the Undersea World), with fins as well as human hands. The face has double-eye forms (two salmon heads joined at the nose). The "back" of the box is a variation of this creature with single-pupil eyes. This supernatural being may be modified by the addition of such markers as large incisors (Beaver), gill slits (Dogfish), large canines (Wolf), tall ears and protruding tongue (Bear), and so on. The side panels of the box have much simpler designs, which are only painted and not carved.

A variation of the standard box design is to spread the traditional front and back image of the supernatural being over the two sides of the box, so that its protective power is continuous around the box.

Large bentwood chests, approximately the size of two storage boxes, were favoured by chiefs to store and protect their regalia, particularly their costumes of Chilkat or button blankets, aprons, leggings and frontlets. Important chiefs owned up to half a dozen such chests. The major centres of production for these chests throughout the nineteenth century were at Bella Bella and Fort Simpson. Since Fort Simpson was viewed by all the tribes of the north coast as the hub of trade for expensive goods, including high-quality items of native manufacture, and also had the largest cadre of professional artists throughout the last two-thirds of the nineteenth century, it was probably the source of chests acquired by the Haida, who visited the post annually.

	A large bentwood storage chest. The front of the chest portrays the face of Konankada, Chief of the Undersea World. The bas-relief sculpture and incised formlines of the ovoids and eyes represent the highest level of surface decoration achieved by Haida artists. Collected on Haida Gwaii in 1898 by W. A. Newcombe.
	One of the painted end panels of a large bentwood chest. This particular style of chest with carved front and back panels, as well as elaborately painted end panels, was produced by specialized craftsmen at Bella Bella and Fort Simpson. Collected at Masset in 1898 by Charles F. Newcombe.

The design of the standard chest uses the face of the double-eyed supernatural being on the front panel, while the back portrays the single-eyed being. The sides are often decorated with simple formlines and ovoids, but on a series of chests that were probably imported to Haida Gwaii, the side panels have full designs that resemble the fronts of storage boxes.

After protecting the wealth of a chief during his lifetime, such a chest often became his burial box and the protector of his soul after death.

The back of a bentwood burial chest that has both painted and incised formline designs wrapping around two sides. The ovoids are extremely thick at the top, and the inner ovoids have simple slits indicating closed eyes. Such chests were often found in burial caves, although this example was never used. Acquired by Charles F. Newcombe in 1898.

Collected by Harlan I. Smith in 1926 from a chief at the Gitksan village of Kitwanga on the Skeena River.

On this bentwood burial chest, the face of the Beaver crest projects from the front in high relief. It was created, according to Wilson Duff, by Charles Edenshaw during his residence at Port Essington at the mouth of the Skeena. Its form bears a striking resemblance to the sculpted facade of Grizzly Bear's Mouth House at Skidegate, where Edenshaw grew up. Here, however, the design is totally rearranged to be displayed entirely on the front panel rather than being wrapped around all four sides in the usual fashion, a further indication that it was a burial chest meant to be seen only from one perspective. The artist may have intended to use it for his own funeral, but he sold it to another chief instead.

Basketry

Haida women made a range of baskets from large coarsely woven ones that would allow clams to drain, to drinking cups so tightly woven they would hold water. Every woman had her work baskets, which were usually hung from the walls or rafters of the house. Other baskets were made for the storage of clothes, as well as roots and vegetables. Cooking baskets of red cedar bark with an open weave were used to boil berries, prior to mashing and drying them for winter use. Woven strainers were used to skim off the grease when boilding black cod. Potato baskets became a common item when, as part of the nineteenth-century economy, the Haida grew potatoes to sell to mainland natives and maritime traders.

	A woman from Masset weaving a basket of spruce root on a stand. Such baskets provided women with an important source of income in the early tourist economy. Photograph by Edward Dossetter, 1881.
	Shallow trays of tightly woven spruce root, such as this one with a Beaver crest, were suitable for display in a Victorian home. This one was created by Isabella and Charles Edenshaw for sale to travellers, although it is totally traditional in style and manufacture. Collected at Masset in 1898 by Charles F. Newcombe.

Containers were also woven for a great many other specific functions such as burden baskets, bait baskets, basket quivers for arrows and even stout baskets for anchor stones. Cradles were also fashioned of basketry, although wooden ones were more popular. Fancy baskets for storing soapberry spoons became something of a specialty, as did drinking cups, and very fine examples were woven for domestic use as well as for trade.

Women also wove many types of basketry mats for household use. Meals were eaten on them, babies were born on them, people slept on them and the dead were wrapped in them for burial. Old mats were recycled as covers for boxes or for covering canoes to keep them from checking in the sunlight. Designs on mats were geometric but could be quite complex. Some patterns had individual names and meanings, and specific designs belonged as a privilege to certain families of high rank. These design motifs have not been thoroughly analysed, but in his unpublished notes, Charles F. Newcombe documented the names of many of them, such as "slug trail," "comb pattern," "shadow," "small waves in calm waters," "the crossing of the sticks of a drying frame for fish," "little breeze on the water" and so on. Museum collections contain numerous painted mats, some of which may be attributed to the Haida, but many appear to be intended for the early tourist trade and there is no evidence they were ever produced in Haida country.

Although the art of weaving hats, mats and baskets almost disappeared from the 1930s until the late 1950s, the recent renaissance of feasting has encouraged young women to learn basketry from their grandmothers.

Museum of Civilization, Ottawa, Canada
PHOTOS OF CMC ARTIFACTS: Richard Garner, Harry Foster