BEAR MASK
Tlingit, third quarter of the 19th Century
Copper with abalone eyes, mountaingoat horn teeth, and bear fur surround
H. 11 inches

HIS extraordinary Northwest Coast mask is one of four known examples by the same maker, the others being in the Metropolitan Museum of Art (Ex-Collection Nelson Rockefeller), The Museum of the American Indian, and the St. Joseph (Missouri) Museum.

The Bear Clan was an exceedingly powerful entity among the Tlingit. This is particularly evident in Tlingit mythology where the bear is invested with supernatural powers. This mask could well have been given as a gift at a potlatch ceremony. It would be a prestigious and impressive statement on behalf of a chieftain, not only defining relationships but also carrying an awesome responsibility to the receiver. Only the most powerful ruler could command the masks to be made, and only the most powerful of recipients could afford to keep them.

The Tlingit controlled the trade in native copper for hundreds of years. Whether through their own mining or trade with interior Indians, they became the "Keepers of the Copper". Even with the introduction of sheet copper by the white man at least as early as the first decade of the nineteenth century, the Tlingit influence was substantial.

P.O.R.

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