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The low arch of the top rim on each end of the container and the very subtle dip to the sides harmonize with the small degree of bulge in the four sides, and is paralleled visually in the composition of the two-dimensional designs. The flat-design style expressed by the maker of this dish is one of relatively thin formlines, compared with the work on the older and larger dish previously (c.f. fig. XX [T182]), and especially so when compared with the character of the design work on the Thaw Collection's very early Tlingit or Tsimshian example, (c.f. fig.XX [T199]). This historic-period trend toward thinner formlines, broader negative (or carved-out) spaces, and more complex secondary (or opposite-color) designs (Holm 1965, p. XX [TK]; Brown 1995, chap. 5) is one measure of development by which to attribute undocumented artifacts to a relative time frame. A large number of similar bent containers in various collections can be attributed to the unnamed maker of this piece on the basis of his style (Holm, [date]: Letter to E.V. Thaw). A nearly identical low dish is in the Denver Museum of Nature and Science differs only in minute design details and the lack of opercula inlay on the rim. A much deeper, large bent dish of the same style is in the Royal British Columbia Museum, Victoria, B.C. (c.f. Macnair, Hoover and Neary, 1980, p.34, fig.11a-d), and two smaller ones, are now in the Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago (14817) and (14825). The Canadian Museum of Civilization (c.f. cat. no.TK) also appears to be similar enough to be by the same man, and the American Museum of Natural History, New York, has two bent dishes that are stylistically comparable. (From the Catalog of the Thaw Collection of American Indian Art, 2nd ed.)
ProvenanceMichael Perez, Newcastle, Maine; George Shaw, Aspen, Colorado
BibliographyVincent, Gilbert et al. Art of the North American Indians: The Thaw Collection. Cooperstown, New York: Fenimore Art Museum, 2000, p.342.
Fognell, Eva and Alexander Brier Marr, eds. Art of the North American Indians: The Thaw Collection at the Fenimore Art Museum, 2nd ed. Cooperstown, New York: Fenimore Art Museum, 2016, p. 366.
Culture
Haida
Bent-Corner Dish
Date1830-1860
DimensionsOverall: 8 1/4 × 13 1/4 × 16 3/4 in. (21 × 33.7 × 42.5 cm)
Object numberT0183
Credit LineGift of Eugene V. and Clare E. Thaw
Photograph by John Bigelow Taylor, NYC
Label TextNot as sculpturally ambitious as other the Haida bent bowl (see T0182), this more rectangular and less deep container appears to have been made somewhat later in the 19th century. Made by the same general technique as the other, this dish was created from a much thinner plank and a different kind of wood, probably yellow cedar, which is considerably softer than yew. The same style of 90 degree V-kerfs were employed to make the corners, though the rim is much less wide and the undercut on the inside beneath it is correspondingly less deeply hollowed. The shell opercula of (originally) thirty-two red turban marine snails have been inlaid along the rim top, an embellishment seen on many bent-corner bowls and carved dishes, as well as box and chest lids (c.f.[T184, T170, T206]). The red turban snails are native to only a few specific sub-tidal sites between Washington State and Southeast Alaska, but they have been traded around among all the coastal Native groups. Their rarity made them a valuable form of decoration in both the southern and northern areas, and their status remains so today.The low arch of the top rim on each end of the container and the very subtle dip to the sides harmonize with the small degree of bulge in the four sides, and is paralleled visually in the composition of the two-dimensional designs. The flat-design style expressed by the maker of this dish is one of relatively thin formlines, compared with the work on the older and larger dish previously (c.f. fig. XX [T182]), and especially so when compared with the character of the design work on the Thaw Collection's very early Tlingit or Tsimshian example, (c.f. fig.XX [T199]). This historic-period trend toward thinner formlines, broader negative (or carved-out) spaces, and more complex secondary (or opposite-color) designs (Holm 1965, p. XX [TK]; Brown 1995, chap. 5) is one measure of development by which to attribute undocumented artifacts to a relative time frame. A large number of similar bent containers in various collections can be attributed to the unnamed maker of this piece on the basis of his style (Holm, [date]: Letter to E.V. Thaw). A nearly identical low dish is in the Denver Museum of Nature and Science differs only in minute design details and the lack of opercula inlay on the rim. A much deeper, large bent dish of the same style is in the Royal British Columbia Museum, Victoria, B.C. (c.f. Macnair, Hoover and Neary, 1980, p.34, fig.11a-d), and two smaller ones, are now in the Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago (14817) and (14825). The Canadian Museum of Civilization (c.f. cat. no.TK) also appears to be similar enough to be by the same man, and the American Museum of Natural History, New York, has two bent dishes that are stylistically comparable. (From the Catalog of the Thaw Collection of American Indian Art, 2nd ed.)
ProvenanceMichael Perez, Newcastle, Maine; George Shaw, Aspen, Colorado
BibliographyVincent, Gilbert et al. Art of the North American Indians: The Thaw Collection. Cooperstown, New York: Fenimore Art Museum, 2000, p.342.
Fognell, Eva and Alexander Brier Marr, eds. Art of the North American Indians: The Thaw Collection at the Fenimore Art Museum, 2nd ed. Cooperstown, New York: Fenimore Art Museum, 2016, p. 366.
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