With the enforced near-eradication of shamanic practice by civil and religious authorities in southeastern Alaska by about 1880, Tlingit artists began to carve single figures and figural groups, primarily depicting the torture of individuals accused of witchcraft. The best of these, produced by classically trained artists, were made c. 1880.

This exceptional carving depicts a suspected witch forced into a kneeling position, hands bound behind his back, with his plaited hair attached to his wrists. Through divination a shaman identified the witch. The witch's relatives were responsible for binding him and twisting his hair to extract a confession of guilt. Although produced as art for sale, these images have origins in legitimate ethnographic objects, notably the celebrated shaman's oystercatcher rattle where the witch/shaman tableaux is often depicted.

The classic structure of the agonized victim's face and the use of a palette of red and blue hues, which were in use in the mid-19th century, suggests this figure was created by a trained artist, versed in the classic Tlingit style. There is evidence suggesting that religious authorities encouraged the production of carvings like this, which they viewed as secular curiosities, in an attempt to divert traditional artists from producing sacred and ceremonial artifacts, (Emmons, 1991; de Laguna, 1972; Wright, 1998; Wardwell, 1996).

Jay Stewart
Peter Macnair
April 26, 2001