First Arts company logo
First Arts
Skip to main content
  • Menu
  • Home
  • Available Artworks
  • Auctions & Exhibitions
  • About
  • SERVICES
  • News & Blog
Menu

Artworks

Open a larger version of the following image in a popup: UNIDENTIFIED ARTIST, KAIGANI HAIDA, Clan Tunic, c. 1890
Open a larger version of the following image in a popup: UNIDENTIFIED ARTIST, KAIGANI HAIDA, Clan Tunic, c. 1890

UNIDENTIFIED ARTIST, KAIGANI HAIDA

Clan Tunic, c. 1890
tailored red trade cloth ground, decorated with abalone plaques and mother of pearl buttons, arranged in a beaver motif, with a scalloped shaped fringe along the body block; fabric, abalone, mother of pearl buttons, and thread, 45.75 x 41 in (116.2 x 104.1 cm)

LOT 76
ESTIMATE: $6,000 — $9,000

Further images

  • (View a larger image of thumbnail 1 ) UNIDENTIFIED ARTIST, KAIGANI HAIDA, Clan Tunic, c. 1890
  • (View a larger image of thumbnail 2 ) UNIDENTIFIED ARTIST, KAIGANI HAIDA, Clan Tunic, c. 1890
Many different types of trade cloth regalia were developed on the Northwest Coast, based in general on a long-standing tradition of hide garments that were painted and/or beaded or quilled...
Read more

Many different types of trade cloth regalia were developed on the Northwest Coast, based in general on a long-standing tradition of hide garments that were painted and/or beaded or quilled upon, some with sewn-on shell pieces. Chilkat woven shirts and tunics were also made with all-Native materials that set a precedent for trade cloth garments. Trade cloth sources include Hudson’s Bay blankets, Melton cloth, and what is known as stroud cloth, woven in wool and vat-dyed an orange-red color. Stroud cloth was traded widely across North America by the HBC and was incorporated into the fabric arts of Native groups from the Plains to the west coast. Other sources of red wool were also used for Northwest Coast regalia.


Cloth regalia ranged from garments in blanket or robe form to sewn overshirts and sleeveless tunics. Blankets were used for regalia from northern Vancouver Island to Southeast Alaska, with local variations in decoration (shell or button applique, cloth applique in contrasting color) and border styles. Shirts and tunics were decorated with the same range of techniques incorporating shell pieces (abalone and mother of pearl), commercial buttons of MOP, and applique in contrasting color, usually red on dark blue, with some examples using green or grey as the base fabric.


This short-sleeved tunic is tailored in red trade cloth with a beaver design composed of MOP buttons to outline the design forms. Abalone shell rim-plaques are sewn in certain design areas for added emphasis; within ovoids, eyebrows, incisor teeth, rib spaces and surrounding the beaver’s tail. The sides are embellished with added red strips cut into rounded scallop shapes that decorate the sides of the shirt. The neckline is covered with seam tape that may have been added more recently to protect the cut edges from wear.


Dancers wearing robes or tunics also wear varieties of headgear that vary with the traditions of the region, the status of the dancers and the performance enacted. Such dancers usually wear gloves or gauntlets of moose or deer hide decorated with beadwork, often leggings of trade cloth similarly embellished, and hide moccasins sewn in a wide range of styles and decoration.


Steven C. Brown


Close full details

Provenance

By descent to Sylvester Peele (1921-1996), Hydaburg, AK;
Sylvester Peele was a descendant of Chief Soni-hat (1829-1912), an important and wealthy chief of Kasaan (Kasa’aan), one of the main historical communities of the Kaigani Haida, situated on east-central Prince of Wales Island, Alaska. Acquired from the above in Hydaburg by a BC Collector in 1970; Acquired from the above by the present Private Collection, BC.
Share
  • Facebook
  • X
  • Pinterest
  • Tumblr
  • Email

FIRST ARTS PREMIERS INC.  
 647-286-5012   |    info@firstarts.ca 

 

The main office of First Arts Premiers Inc. is located on the ancestral and traditional territories of the Mississaugas of the Credit, Anishinaabe, Haudenosaunee, and Huron-Wendat, the original owners and custodians of this land.  Today, it is home to many diverse First Nations, Inuit, and Métis peoples.

 

 

 

Join Our Mailing List

 

JOIN

 

 

 

Facebook, opens in a new tab.
Instagram, opens in a new tab.
Send an email
Manage cookies
Copyright © 2025 First Arts
Site by Artlogic

This website uses cookies
This site uses cookies to help make it more useful to you. Please contact us to find out more about our Cookie Policy.

Manage cookies
Accept

Cookie preferences

Check the boxes for the cookie categories you allow our site to use

Cookie options
Required for the website to function and cannot be disabled.
Improve your experience on the website by storing choices you make about how it should function.
Allow us to collect anonymous usage data in order to improve the experience on our website.
Allow us to identify our visitors so that we can offer personalised, targeted marketing.
Save preferences
Close

Join our mailing list

Join

* denotes required fields

We will process the personal data you have supplied in accordance with our privacy policy (available on request). You can unsubscribe or change your preferences at any time by clicking the link in our emails.