.jpg?w=1)
HAIDA OR TLINGIT
Details
A NORTHWEST COAST CARVED WOOD PIPE
HAIDA OR TLINGIT
carved of alder wood, representing a dragonfly, the long tubular body with inset mouthpiece, featuring rounded eyes, snub nose and slit mouth, its cross-hatched wings to the sides of the segmented body, small copper bowl inset at top
Length: 9½ in. (24.1 cm.)
HAIDA OR TLINGIT
carved of alder wood, representing a dragonfly, the long tubular body with inset mouthpiece, featuring rounded eyes, snub nose and slit mouth, its cross-hatched wings to the sides of the segmented body, small copper bowl inset at top
Length: 9½ in. (24.1 cm.)
Further details
Traditionally the Haida sucked a pea-sized mixture of native tobacco, lime and ash for euphoric effect during ritual funerary practices. With the introduction by Euroamerican traders of broad leaf tobacco and smoking pipes, northern coastal peoples began to carve pipes of wood decorated with crest images. Noble chiefs owned a number of such pipes which were distributed to participants at a smoking feast to celebrate the dedication of a newly constructed house, the raising of a totem pole or the memorializing a deceased noble. Alternatively, guests brought their own pipes to the event.
While stylistically somewhat anonymous, this pipe clearly represents a dragonfly. This insect is rare in Northwest Coast iconography although Boas (1955:193) attributes this image to several different artifacts. Swanton, in his pioneering ethnography of the Haida (1905) notes the dragonfly is an Eagle moiety crest found among the Pebble-Town and Seaward-Eagles, supporting the Haida attribution of this pipe.
Jay Stewart
Peter MacNair
March 1, 2002
While stylistically somewhat anonymous, this pipe clearly represents a dragonfly. This insect is rare in Northwest Coast iconography although Boas (1955:193) attributes this image to several different artifacts. Swanton, in his pioneering ethnography of the Haida (1905) notes the dragonfly is an Eagle moiety crest found among the Pebble-Town and Seaward-Eagles, supporting the Haida attribution of this pipe.
Jay Stewart
Peter MacNair
March 1, 2002