The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Raven rattle

This artwork is currently on display in Gallery 681

Description

Much of the symbolism associated with this rattle comments on the transmission of power from one figure to the next-the raven to humankind in general (as oral tradition states) and the kingfisher to the prone figure on the raven's back. The prone figure is personified with a face of a wolf, perhaps another guide of the owner of this rattle.Carved in two pieces and assembled using wooden pins to secure the halves, a rattle usually contains small stones or seeds. Polychrome adornment exhibits the pale blue pigmentation common during the late nineteenth century.
References

Libin Laurence. "Musical Instruments in The Metropolitan Museum." The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin (1978), Vol. XXXV, No. 3, pg. 18, ill.

Catalogue of the Crosby Brown Collection of Musical Instruments: Oceanica and America. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 1913, vol. II, pg. 96, ill.
See also
Who
Tsimshian (12)
What
Wood (7,651)

Musical instruments (5,241)

Idiophones (1,506)

Softwood (1,177)

Rattles (421)

Cedar (149)
Where
North and Central America (81,404)

Canada (605)

British Columbia (32)

Queen Charlotte Islands (3)

Graham Island (2)

Skidegate (1)
When
A.D. 1800-1900 (80,185)
In the Museum
Musical Instruments (5,221)
Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History
The United States and Canada, 1800–1900 A.D.
MetPublications
Search for related Met publications