Portrait figure

Unknown

ca. 1840 · Wood and pigment · The American Wing

The Haida woman represented in this carved figure wears a pleated cotton dress and holds what appears to be a wafer. In the mid-nineteenth century, Haida men and women made regular journeys to Victoria, British Columbia, five hundred miles south of their homeland on Haida Gwaii, also known as the Queen Charlotte Islands. The woman likely acquired her garment there, and the wafer may refer to the Christian Eucharist, perhaps symbolizing her religious conversion.

Artist

Unknown

Date

ca. 1840

Medium

Wood and pigment

Culture

Haida, Native American

Department

The American Wing

Credit line

The Charles and Valerie Diker Collection of Native American Art, Gift of Charles and Valerie Diker, 2019