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This highly unusual hat represents a blending of two or more of these traditions: the Tlingit clan hat, the Alutiiq/Kodiak duck-billed hat, and in a lesser way the Aleut hunting visor. With no documentation of its creation, the hat may have originated in the Yakutat area, the most northwestern of the Tlingit territories, where the blending of Alutiiq/Kodiak and neighboring Eyak cultures is documented in a variety of overlapping traditions. Perhaps brought about by a marriage between cultures, an important acknowledgment of some special bond, or a gesture of friendship between important leaders, the convergence of two Native cultures has endured in this skillfully made piece of clan regalia. The emblem is that of the bear, main crest of the Teiqweidi clan, identified by the upright front paws (the claws of which have been sheathed in copper), the short, blunt tail at the rear, short snout, and the presence of small faces in the ears (also hammered from copper sheet). A number of prominent Tlingit clan objects representing bears feature small faces in the ears, some of which are done in copper repousse.
The stiff hair on a strip of porcupine skin trims the edge of each ear. Short sea lion whiskers have been set into the visor edge, and the surface of the cap is painted in black and red curvilinear forms that are Pacific Eskimo in character, and very different from the Tlingit formline style. The texture of the bear's fur has been imitated by small dashing cuts on the raised surfaces of the bear's body and limbs, and a striping of black and red paints combines to convey the impression of a brown bear's coloration. The large, round eyes are inlaid with a circle of abalone shell that appears not to be the usual, imported California blue-green variety. These may be pieces of California red abalone, or perhaps the local Northwest Coast variety, both with a pale but highly iridescent interior surface. (From the Catalog of the Thaw Collection of American Indian Art, 2nd ed.)
Exhibition History"Treasures from the Thaw Collection," Wheelwright Museum of American Indian Art. Santa Fe, NM, May 1, 2000 - December 31, 2000.
ProvenanceJ.J. Klejman, New York City; J.W. Turner, Tuscaloosa, Alabama; Sotheby's Parke Bernet, New York City 1980, lot 420; Morton D. May, St. Louis, Missouri; Stefan Edlis, Chicago, Illinois
BibliographySotheby's advertisement. American Indian Art Magazine, Vol. 5, No.2, (Spring 1980): 23.
Sotheby's. Sale 4366, 26 April 1980, lot 420, Private Collection, Alabama.
Black, Lydia T. Glory Remembered: Wooden Headgear of Alaskan Sea Hunters. Juneau, Alaska: Alaska State Museums, 1991, p.26, fig.11.
Vincent, Gilbert T. Masterpieces of American Indian Art. New York: Harry Abrams, 1995, p.85.
Vincent, Gilbert et al. Art of the North American Indians: The Thaw Collection. Cooperstown, New York: Fenimore Art Museum, 2000, p.385.
Grambo, Rebecca L. Bear: A Celebration of Power and Beauty. Burlington, Vermont: Verve, 2000, p.133.
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. 431.
Culture
Tlingit
Hat
Date1830-1860
DimensionsOverall: 8 1/2 × 10 × 16 in. (21.6 × 25.4 × 40.6 cm)
Object numberT0209
Credit LineLoan from the Eugene V. and Clare E. Thaw Charitable Trust
Photograph by John Bigelow Taylor, NYC
Label TextMost Tlingit clan-emblem hats of wood are based on the form and textures of woven spruce root hats (T193), which historically preceded them. The most inspired carvers adapt the sculptural form of a clan emblem to the hat shape in such a way that the forms of the emblem and hat blend smoothly together, flowing from the three-dimensional snout, beak, or head to the two-dimensional limbs and body parts laid on the curving surfaces of the hat brim. This equally well-integrated hat design, however, is based on a traditional hat from another region of Alaska. Alutiiq (Pacific Eskimo) and Yup'ik peoples create a special class of hunting hats shaped like a duck-billed or visored cap carved of wood. These hats are related to, but not synonymous with, bentwood hunting hats of an Aluet style. On these bentwood hats are painted curvilinear designs that appear to be symbols of prey animals and other flowing, multi-colored patterns. They are often embellished with small ivory figures or attachments, sea lion whiskers, and glass beads. Norton Sound and Kodiak style duck-billed hats are rare, and only sometimes have painted designs on their surface (c.f. Black 1991, pp. 25-26).This highly unusual hat represents a blending of two or more of these traditions: the Tlingit clan hat, the Alutiiq/Kodiak duck-billed hat, and in a lesser way the Aleut hunting visor. With no documentation of its creation, the hat may have originated in the Yakutat area, the most northwestern of the Tlingit territories, where the blending of Alutiiq/Kodiak and neighboring Eyak cultures is documented in a variety of overlapping traditions. Perhaps brought about by a marriage between cultures, an important acknowledgment of some special bond, or a gesture of friendship between important leaders, the convergence of two Native cultures has endured in this skillfully made piece of clan regalia. The emblem is that of the bear, main crest of the Teiqweidi clan, identified by the upright front paws (the claws of which have been sheathed in copper), the short, blunt tail at the rear, short snout, and the presence of small faces in the ears (also hammered from copper sheet). A number of prominent Tlingit clan objects representing bears feature small faces in the ears, some of which are done in copper repousse.
The stiff hair on a strip of porcupine skin trims the edge of each ear. Short sea lion whiskers have been set into the visor edge, and the surface of the cap is painted in black and red curvilinear forms that are Pacific Eskimo in character, and very different from the Tlingit formline style. The texture of the bear's fur has been imitated by small dashing cuts on the raised surfaces of the bear's body and limbs, and a striping of black and red paints combines to convey the impression of a brown bear's coloration. The large, round eyes are inlaid with a circle of abalone shell that appears not to be the usual, imported California blue-green variety. These may be pieces of California red abalone, or perhaps the local Northwest Coast variety, both with a pale but highly iridescent interior surface. (From the Catalog of the Thaw Collection of American Indian Art, 2nd ed.)
Exhibition History"Treasures from the Thaw Collection," Wheelwright Museum of American Indian Art. Santa Fe, NM, May 1, 2000 - December 31, 2000.
ProvenanceJ.J. Klejman, New York City; J.W. Turner, Tuscaloosa, Alabama; Sotheby's Parke Bernet, New York City 1980, lot 420; Morton D. May, St. Louis, Missouri; Stefan Edlis, Chicago, Illinois
BibliographySotheby's advertisement. American Indian Art Magazine, Vol. 5, No.2, (Spring 1980): 23.
Sotheby's. Sale 4366, 26 April 1980, lot 420, Private Collection, Alabama.
Black, Lydia T. Glory Remembered: Wooden Headgear of Alaskan Sea Hunters. Juneau, Alaska: Alaska State Museums, 1991, p.26, fig.11.
Vincent, Gilbert T. Masterpieces of American Indian Art. New York: Harry Abrams, 1995, p.85.
Vincent, Gilbert et al. Art of the North American Indians: The Thaw Collection. Cooperstown, New York: Fenimore Art Museum, 2000, p.385.
Grambo, Rebecca L. Bear: A Celebration of Power and Beauty. Burlington, Vermont: Verve, 2000, p.133.
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. 431.
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