Serpent mask

Slithering down from the sky, a serpent mask with a body completely covered by dark raffia made a dramatic entrance. By twisting its head from side to side rapidly, the serpent would seem to ripple in the air. Serpent masks were most often called upon to thank spirits and ancestors for enabling bountiful harvests.

Wood, fiber, hair, pigment

151 9/16 x 8 1/4 x 10 1/4 in. (385 x 21 x 26 cm)

Gift of Katherine White and the Boeing Company

81.17.86

Provenance: [Alexander-Suggs Gallery, Inc., Clayton, Missouri]; purchased from gallery by Katherine White (1929-1980), Seattle, Washington, 1975; bequeathed to Seattle Art Museum, Seattle, Washington, 1981

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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