Bentwood Dish

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Pre-conservation
Bentwood Dish
Pre-conservation
Datebefore 1850
MediumWood and spruce root
DimensionsOverall: 4 1/2 × 9 1/4 × 6 5/8 in. (11.4 × 23.5 × 16.8 cm)
Credit LineTransferred from the Knox Hall of Natural History, Hamilton College
Object number1984.468
Not on view
DescriptionKerfing was an important technique used by the Native Americans of the Northwest Coast to produce watertight boxes. The process involved the precise scoring and steam heating of a continuous strip of wood, whereby the strip would be bent to form the sides of a box. The first and fourth sides were sewn or pegged together and a bottom added by sewing or pegging. This bent wood dish has carvings on all sides and is impregnated with fish or seal oil which exudes from the surface.
Collections

Additional Details

Exhibition History 2005
Clinton, NY (Fred L. Emerson Gallery, Hamilton College). "Hamilton Collects: A Century of Curiosities: The Story of the Hamilton College Collection," September 29 - December 30, 2005 (unnumbered cat.);

1985
Clinton, NY (Fred L. Emerson Gallery, Hamilton College). "Wonderful Heroes, Fearsome Creatures," November 2 - December 14, 1985 (cat. no. 14, illus. 27).
Provenance 1984: Hamilton College (Emerson Gallery), by transfer from the Anthropology Department;
? - 1984: Hamilton College (Anthropology Department), by transfer from the Knox Hall of Natural History;
by 1925: Hamilton College (Knox Hall of Natural History), by gift from an unknown donor (research pending).
Published References WONDERFUL HEROES FEARSOME CREATURES: ART OF THE NORTHWEST COAST exh. cat. (Clinton, NY: Fred L. Emerson Gallery, 1985), 27, illus. 27.
Inscribed Inscribed in ink on bottom at center: E81
Artwork is in the public domain. Image courtesy of the Ruth and Elmer Museum of Art at Hamilton…
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Photo by John Bentham.
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Photograph by Dave Revette
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Date: date unknown
Medium: Wood and metal
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Mask
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Date: date unknown
Medium: Wood
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© Jeffrey Gibson. Image courtesy of the Ruth and Elmer Museum of Art at Hamilton College, Clint…
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Jeffrey Gibson
Date: 2018
Medium: Single-channel video
Object number: 2018.6
Photograph by Dave Revette.
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Medium: Wood with paint
Object number: 1996.15.32
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Artwork is in the public domain. Image courtesy of the Ruth and Elmer Museum of Art at Hamilton…
Shabti Overseer
Date: c. 1070-656 B.C.E.
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Object number: 1943.124
Photo by John Bentham.
'Akau-tā or Pakipaki (war club)
Unknown artist, Polynesian
Date: after 1770
Medium: Ironwood, also known as toa wood (casuarina equisetifolia or she-oak)
Object number: 2023.10.28