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Dagger Hilt
Dagger Hilt
Culture

Dagger Hilt

Date1800-1840
DimensionsOverall: 4 × 1 × 1 1/2 in. (10.2 × 2.5 × 3.8 cm)
Object numberT0190
Credit LineLoan from the Eugene V. and Clare E. Thaw Charitable Trust
Photograph by John Bigelow Taylor, NYC
Label TextWalrus ivory has been an important medium for Northwest Coast artists for a very long time. This exquisitely modeled dagger hilt with its tiny, delicate figures has the same visual impact as monumental totem poles. It depicts a bear surmounted by a human whose head rests atop the bear’s and whose arms extend through his ears. The bear holds a frog in its mouth and forefeet. The blending of two figures in the same artistic space, a hallmark of Northwest Coast art, can be interpreted to symbolize their spiritual interrelationship.
Exhibition History"Art of the American Indian: The Thaw Collection," The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH, March 2, 2010 - May 30, 2010; Minneapolis Museum of Art, Minneapolis, MN, October 24, 2010 - January 9, 2011; Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas, TX, April 24, 2011 - September 23, 2011; Indianapolis Museum of Art, Indianapolis, IN, December 4, 2011 - February 12, 2012.
ProvenanceJonathan Holstein, Cazenovia, New York
BibliographyVincent, Gilbert et al. Art of the North American Indians: The Thaw Collection. Cooperstown, New York: Fenimore Art Museum, 2000, p.338.

Grambo, Rebecca L. Bear: A Celebration of Power and Beauty. Burlington, Vermont: Verve, 2000, p.119.

Fognell, Eva, ed. Art of the American Indians: The Thaw Collection. Cooperstown, NY: Fenimore Art Museum, 2010, p. 139.
On View
Not on view
Model Totem Pole
Simeon Stilthda
1860-1880
War Club
Eastern Woodlands
c. 1620-1680
Polar Bear Figure
Old Bering Sea II (Siberian Yup'ik)
100-300
Polar Bear Effigy
Ipiutak
A.D. 100-600
Female Figure
Haida
c. 1830
Feast Ladle
Coast Tsimshian
c. 1840
Potlatch Figure
Kwakwaka'wakw (Kwakiutl)
1880-1895
Jumping Horse
Unidentified Artist
1850-1855
Driver, Rider and Wagon
Homer Benedict
1992
Dagger
Tlingit
1800-1850
Spoon
Haida
c. 1870

5798 STATE HIGHWAY 80
COOPERSTOWN NY, 13326
607-547-1400

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