Tlingit war helmet

Alaska / Taku region, British Columbia
Spruce burl
Height: 20 cm
Width: 30 cm
Provenance:
Skip Holbrook Family collection by decent. (over 90 years)

In the late eighteenth century, at the beginning of the Historic period, the use of armor was general among Native North Americans. On the Northwest Coast, normal body proportions were elongated with the addition of a hardwood helmet carved to represent a powerful, oversized head.

Helmets were carved from, dense spruce burls to withstand blows from clubs and evenshots fired from Russian muskets.

Object Presented by:
Mark Eglinton
T.: + 1 646-675-7150