Haida Polychrome Wood Headdress

frontlet, of slightly convex form, finely carved with an openwork design, depicting an unidentified creature, with backswept horns, a frog perched between them, surmounted by a shamanic figure, with sharply hooked beak, its lower lip extended and inserted with a labret, the pointed oval eyerims centering plaques of abalone shell beneath thick arching brows, the forehead emerging to another creature, possibly a dog fish, painted overall in red, blue and black details.

Acquired by present owner from Donald Ellis Gallery

Smithsonian, National Museum of the American Indian, George Gustav Heye Center, Alexander Hamilton U.S. Custom House, New York City, April 2004-October 2005

First American Art, Bernstein and McMaster, 2004, p. 187, cat. no. 136, illustrated.

Complete vertical split on the left side of frontlet, repaired with original piece, with glue, possible infil and paint. Vertical hairline split approximately 3 in. long on the right side, stable. Another split, posssibe break, on the lower right, glued to stabilize. Minor surface abrasion resulting in paint loss. Abalone plaque in the right eye may have been replaced.
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