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Clapper in Form of a Fish with Human Head for Finger Lever

Charles Edenshaw

Arts of the Americas

Animals indigenous to the Northwest Coast region play prominent roles in this group of objects. Rattles were part of chiefs’ ceremonial dance regalia; the Tsimshian example depicts a shaman touching tongues with a frog as he rides on the back of a raven with another frog in its mouth. The clapper by the Haida artist Charles Edenshaw takes the form of a halibut with the face of the fish’s spirit represented on the tail. The Haida frontlet, which would have been attached to a headdress, represents a raven emerging from the mouth of a whale. The Tlingit soul catcher, of a type used by shamans to capture and protect people’s souls during healing ceremonies, depicts a whale with a fin rising from the center of its back.
MEDIUM Cedar wood, pigment
DATES pre–1864
DIMENSIONS 9 3/4 x 2 3/4 in. (24.8 x 7.0 cm)  (show scale)
INSCRIPTIONS Written on object: "from Beasley Collection, H.M.S. Grewler, 1864."
COLLECTIONS Arts of the Americas
ACCESSION NUMBER L61.3.1
CREDIT LINE Collection of Christopher B. Martin
CATALOGUE DESCRIPTION Carved wood clapper in the form of a halibut with the face of the fish’s spirit represented on the tail. Condition: good.
MUSEUM LOCATION This item is not on view
CAPTION Charles Edenshaw (Haida, 1834–1924). Clapper in Form of a Fish with Human Head for Finger Lever, pre–1864. Cedar wood, pigment, 9 3/4 x 2 3/4 in. (24.8 x 7.0 cm). Collection of Christopher B. Martin, L61.3.1. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, L61.3.1_transp5628.jpg)
IMAGE overall, L61.3.1_transp5628.jpg. Brooklyn Museum photograph
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RIGHTS STATEMENT Creative Commons-BY
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Charles Edenshaw (Haida, 1834–1924). <em>Clapper in Form of a Fish with Human Head for Finger Lever</em>, pre–1864. Cedar wood, pigment, 9 3/4 x 2 3/4 in. (24.8 x 7.0 cm). Collection of Christopher B. Martin, L61.3.1. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, L61.3.1_transp5628.jpg)