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Headdress frontlet (‘Paxewe’)

Photo: Paul Macapia

Headdress frontlet (‘Paxewe’)

ca. 1890

A bird with an upswept beak graces this frontlet and bear-like paws with human faces inside flank a small human face with hands below its chin at the bottom. A small animal- like face surmounts the frontlet. The features which identify this object as Kwakwaka’wakw in origin are the rounded rectangular form and the sharply carved eye sockets.
Alder wood, abalone shell, and paint
10 x 6 3/4 x 7 in. (25.4 x 17.15 x 17.78 cm)
Gift of John H. Hauberg
91.1.29
Provenance: Micheal R. Johnson, Seattle, Washington, until 1970; John H. Hauberg, Seattle, Washington, 1970-1991; Seattle Art Museum, Seattle, Washington
Photo: Paul Macapia
location
Now on view at the Seattle Art Museum

Seattle Art Museum respectfully acknowledges that we are on Indigenous land, the traditional territories of the Coast Salish people. We honor our ongoing connection to these communities past, present, and future.

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