Chilcat Blanket Math
Emmons the basketry of the tlingit and the chilkat blanket reprint edition usa.
Chilcat blanket math. Traditionally chiefs would wear chilkat blankets during potlatch ceremonies. During the middle of the 19 th century the tsimshian slowly stopped weaving. Chilkat weaving can be applied to blankets robes dance tunics aprons leggings shirts vests bags hats and wall hangings. Chilkat clothing features long wool fringe that sways when the wearer dances.
Chilkat blanket na1285 19 th century. Cheryl samuel the chilkat. Long ago there lived on the skeena river in british columbia a tsimshian woman a widow of the village of kitkatla and her only daughter hi you was clar rain mother. Because of their importance they were sometimes hung outside of grave houses to honor a high ranking deceased tribal member.
The chilkat blanket memoirs of the american museum of natural history volume iii december 1907 page 329. Mountain goat wool yellow cedar bark. A chilkat blanket on display at the sheldon museum featuring a bear design woven by jennie thlunaut. 180 cm l x 130 cm w x 3 cm h.
Passed down passed away. The chilkat blanket descends to humankind in tlingit mythology from a love story involving a chief s daughter and the benevolent sea spirit gonaqadet which culminates in raven s gift of the blanket to the human race to unravel and learn the. Chilkat weaving is one of the most complex weaving techniques in the world. It is unique in that the artist can.
Chilkat blankets were status symbols worn typically by male elites at potlaches and ceremonies. Check out the burke s holdings of chilkat blankets and consult the following sources. The deep snows of winter still covered the lowlands and the. This post explores one such chilkat blanket in the bowers museum s collections looking at the history craft and provenance of the blanket.
Friends of the sheldon jackson museum 1993. However shi s claim that chilkats are somehow sacred is misleading. Collected by george byron gordon 1905. It had been a season of extreme want.