Hat

Chugach, Native American

Not on view

Northwest Coast peoples traveling on land and at sea wore basketry hats to shield themselves from the Arctic sun. With their minimal form and maximal functionality, such hats were also made for trade to outside consumers. A female artist decorated this hat with dentalium shells and glass trade beads. The small fragments of fur are the remnants of ermine pelts that once adorned the sides of the cap, reinforcing its wearer’s social status. The abstracted painted forms held symbolic meaning relating to the ancestors of the wearer and his clan.

Hat, Spruce root, shell, ermine, glass beads, pigment, cotton cloth, and tanned leather, Chugach, Native American

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Hat, Spruce root, shell, ermine, glass beads, pigment, cotton cloth, and tanned leather, Chugach, Native American
Hat, Spruce root, shell, ermine, glass beads, pigment, cotton cloth, and tanned leather, Chugach, Native American
Hat, Spruce root, shell, ermine, glass beads, pigment, cotton cloth, and tanned leather, Chugach, Native American
Hat, Spruce root, shell, ermine, glass beads, pigment, cotton cloth, and tanned leather, Chugach, Native American
Hat, Spruce root, shell, ermine, glass beads, pigment, cotton cloth, and tanned leather, Chugach, Native American
Hat, Spruce root, shell, ermine, glass beads, pigment, cotton cloth, and tanned leather, Chugach, Native American

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