Naxw (Halibut hook)

ca. 1880

Tlingit

This halibut hook was made of two pieces of wood—yew for the sculpted piece and yellow cedar for the piece with the barb. These shaped parts and the bone or iron barb are bound together with split spruce root. Halibut hooks of this type were usually sculpted with human, animal or halibut figures which were thought to magically aid in the luring of fish to the hook.

Yew wood, yellow cedar wood, iron, and spruce root

5 x 1 3/4 in. (12.7 x 4.45 cm)

L.: 11 1/8 in.

Gift of John H. Hauberg

91.1.126

Now on view at the Seattle Art Museum

Resources

Exhibition HistorySeattle, Washington, Seattle Art Museum, The Box of Daylight, September 15, 1983 - January 8, 1984

Published ReferencesThe Spirit Within: Northwest Coast Native Art from the John H. Hauberg Collection, Seattle Art Museum, 1995, pg. 90

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