Yellow cedar bark beater

19th century

This hard-working tool was a prized implement in the cedar bark worker’s tool kit. After strips of the inner bark of the red or yellow cedar trees were separated from the outer bark, it was further prepared by pounding it with a beater in order to break the strong fibers and to soften the fiber for weaving. The whale tail at the handle alludes to the importance of whale hunting among the Nuu-chah-nulth.

Whalebone

2 x 1 11/16 in. (5.08 x 4.25 cm)

L.: 11 13/16 in.

Margaret E. Fuller Purchase Fund and the General Acquisition Fund in honor of Jay and Susan Gates

93.79

Not currently on view

Resources

Exhibition HistorySeattle, Washington, Seattle Art Museum, Elegant Plain Art: Art from the Shaker World and Beyond, July 7, 1999 - February 1, 2001

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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