Engraved woodblock of a "Haida medicine rattle"

Description:

This engraved woodblock of a “Haida medicine rattle” was prepared by the Government Printing Office in Washington, D.C.; the image was published as Plate XXII.50 (p.189) in an article by William Healey Dall (1845-1927) entitled “On Masks, Labrets, and Certain Aboriginal Customs with an Inquiry into the Bearing of Their Geographical Distribution” in the Third Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology to the Secretary of the Smithsonian, 1881-82. According to the annual report, the mask shows “the shaman, frog, and kingfisher with continuous tongues.” The image was drawn from a “specimen obtained by J. G. Swan [(1818-1900)] at Port Townsend, W. T. from a Queen Charlotte Island Haida.”

Date Made: 1884

Publisher: Bureau of American EthnologyPrinter: Government Printing OfficeAuthor: Dall, William H.

Location: Currently not on view

Place Made: United States: District of Columbia, Washington

Subject: Native AmericansMusic

Subject:

See more items in: Work and Industry: Graphic Arts, Cultures & Communities, Communications, Wood Blocks for early Bureau of American Ethnology Publications, Graphic Arts Collection, Science & Mathematics, Religion, Wood Engravings, Graphic Arts Collection, Art

Exhibition:

Exhibition Location:

Data Source: National Museum of American History

Id Number: 1980.0219.1294Catalog Number: 1980.0219.1294Accession Number: 1980.0219

Object Name: blockObject Type: Wood Engraving

Physical Description: wood (overall material)engraving (overall production method/technique)Measurements: overall: 14 cm x 5.2 cm x 2.3 cm; 5 1/2 in x 2 1/16 in x 7/8 in

Guid: http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ng49ca746a5-96b3-704b-e053-15f76fa0b4fa

Record Id: nmah_750285

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