Sun Mask

old repair to vertical split

Inscribed in ink on the interior border: "Mask made by Frank Walker of Fort Rupert, British Columbia, made 1900 +/- (according to John Hunt). Name of mask: Tzin Kai Yu. Collected by Ed Malin From John Hunt Ft Rupert for Edw. Rose, Univ of Colorado, 1987. Tzin Kai Yu is a [illegible] who came from heaven to the land of the Kwakiutl and saw the men from Gipas, a neighboring village on the coast and decided to live with them. The men of Gipas asked the stranger who wore this mask if he came from heaven. When he removed the mask, he showed himself to be Nimou Quisti! They exclaimed in wonder, "What are you doing here, Tzin Kai Yu?" He said, "I am going to live with you, the people of Gipa." Tzin Kai Yu says, "I am your brother. I will live with you, my brother." So they live in one house together in peace and cooperation. When the [illegible] removed his mask he became [illegible]. He was before this visit to Gripas in the [illegible] of a [illegible]."

Provenance

Reportedly made by Frank Walter, Fort Rupert, Canada
John Hunt, Fort Rupert, Canada, by descent from the above
Collected by the anthropologist Edward Malin from John Hunt at Fort Rupert, Canada
Edward W. Rose, acquired from the above in 1987
Donald Ellis Gallery, New York, NY
William Dana Lippman, Los Angeles, CA

PUBLISHED

Donald Ellis Gallery catalogue, 2006, pgs. 38-39

RELATED EXAMPLES

Robert Tyler Davis, Native Arts of the Pacific Northwest, Redwood City: Stanford University Press, 1949, pl. 86 

Norman Feder, American Indian Art (shorter edition), New York: Harry N. Abrams Inc., 1973, pl. 132