Large, decorated bentwood dishes such as this one were customarily used during potlatches and other feasts on the Northwest Coast. Although much of the two-dimensional decoration on this dish is no longer visible to the naked eye from use and age, there is enough painting still present to point to an origin on the Central Coast of British Columbia, perhaps from the Tsimshian, Heiltsuk, or Haisla Nations. Artists from these regions were renowned for their painting skills and, thanks to the stands of huge, old-growth cedar in their territories, bentwood boxes and dishes such as this one became popular trade items with surrounding First Nations.

The dish is composed of two pieces: a steamed, slightly bulged plank that makes up the sides of the dish that is lashed together at one corner, and a second, carved plank that makes up the bottom of the dish. There are also operculum shells lining the rim. This dish features all-over formline painting, although the design has been largely obscured by usage, oil, and age. What is still visible is a series of primary and secondary formlines in black and red, that, at least on one end, seem to depict a bird’s head with its foot in its beak. Additionally, there are other design elements visible, such as salmon-trout’s heads and formline human faces in profile. This dish is perhaps a good candidate for infrared photography, a process where paint no longer visible to the naked eye is revealed by using light from the infrared spectrum. Please see the excellent book The Transforming Image: Painted Arts of Northwest Coast First Nations (2000) by Karen Duffek and Bill McLennan for more on this. [1]

1. Karen Duffek and Bill McLennan,The Transforming Image: Painted Arts of Northwest Coast First Nations, (Vancouver: UBC Press, 2000.)