Shaman's Apron
Southeast Alaska
ca. 1840
mountain goat wool, cedar bark, hide, brass thimbles
height: 25"
width: 42"
Inventory # N4169
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Aprons from the Chilkat Tlingit are exceedingly rare. There are few known examples, most of which appear to be in museum collections.
Provenance
This apron was collected by the distinguished naval officer Admiral Robert E. Coontz at Sitka, Alaska, in the 1880’s. It is speculated that the apron was given to Coontz during the Potlatch of 1885, as the photograph “Sitka Indians before a Pot Latch” is reproduced in the autobiography of Admiral Coontz entitled “Mississippi to the Sea”.
By descent through the Coontz family
Related Examples
Peter the Great Museum of Anthropology and Ethnology, Russian Academy of Sciences, St. Petersburg - Cat. No. 593-28 – See: Tlingit: Catalogue of the Kunstkamera. Berezkin (ed.). St. Petersburg, 2007, pg. 134, pl. 151
American Museum of Natural History, New York, Cat. No. E2602 – See: Wardwell, Allen. Tangible Visions: Northwest Coast Indian Shamanism and its Art. New York: The Monacelli Press, 1996, pg. 287, pl. 435, for an example collected by Emmons at Klukwan between 1884-93
American Museum of Natural History, New York, Cat. Nos. 16/348 and 16/349 and 2 others (No. numbers) all collected by Emmons – See: Emmons, George T. The Chilkat Blanket (Reprint). Sitka: Sheldon Jackson Museum, 1993, pgs. 392, 393 and 394, figs. 585a, 586, 587 and 588.
This exceptional Naaxein weaving is likely an interpretation of a shaman's painted hide apron. Shaman’s aprons are extremely rare as only a small number of people were qualified to wear them. Only a handful of woven aprons can be found in museum collections. The present example was collected by the naval officer Admiral Robert E. Coontz at Sitka, Alaska, in the 1880’s. Northwest Coast textiles rank among the most complex weaving techniques in the world and one of the few that use bark. Due to the ban on a number of cultural practices as well as devastating epidemics and the assimilation policies of the Canadian and American governments, the knowledge was passed down to only a few women by the latter half of the 20th century. However, the practice is currently enjoying an artistic revival. Today, both men and women practice the time-intensive art of Naaxiin weaving.