| Collection | ABDUA University of Aberdeen, Human Culture Collection |
| Object Name | Pipe |
| model boat |
| 532 276 439 |
| Object Number | ABDUA:5559 |
| Other Number | E101; 581 |
| Other Number Type | old number |
| Brief Description | Panel pipe made out of argillite (a soft dark slate), carved to represent a model of the Hudson's Bay Company side-paddlewheel steamer, the 'Beaver'.. Carved with a beaver figurehead holding an object in its mouth with both hands, two deck houses white inset windows, chimney, white inset paddlewheel and helm wheel. Other elements have been broken off and are missing. Two European figures represented. The headless figure standing between the helm and cabin is writing, the figure above the paddle wheel holds a bottle and appears to be drinking. A wooden figure with a painted pea coat is standing within the cabin at the bow of the ship. Inside the cabin walls are pasted fragments of text from the "Poppies" section of the poem "Songs and Chorus of the Flowers" of 1836, by James Henry Leigh Hunt (1784-1859). There is a second wooden figure on the other side of the house. The base of the pipe has been carved in alternating squares on each side. |
| Dimensions | L: 400mm, H: 119mm, D: 26mm |
| Materials | stone, slate, shale, argillite, bone, wood, glass |
| Condition | Good |
| Completeness | Incomplete |
| Technique | carved |
| Maker | Haida |
| Object Production Date | 1836-1860 (c.1850) |
| Place Key | North America, Canada, North West Coast, British Columbia, Haida Gwaii (Queen Charlotte Islands) |
| Field Collector | Mitchell, Captain William |
| Object History Note | The object was displayed in the first exhibition ('100 Curiosities') at King's Museum which opened in April 2011. |
| Publication Note | Reid, R W (1912) Illustrated Catalogue of the Anthropological Museum, University of Aberdeen, p260; Drew, L and Wilson, D, 1980, Argillite: Art of the Haida, Canada, Hancock House, p179 (and illustrated) Digitool |
| Caption | "Panel pipes carved out of argillite, a dark slate, comparatively soft when mined which hardens after exposure to the air Haida style, Queen Charlotte Islands, British Columbia Made for sale to Europeans, most of the pipes illustrate sailors of the mid-1800s. Energetic British and American men in maritime dress are positioned along a deck, accompanied sometimes by dogs, horses and other animals. Other features recur - windowed squares which resemble deck houses, cabins or stern galleries, and prows ending in billet-head scrolls. The overall impression is one of intense shipboard activity. At the front is a pipe which is apparently a model of the Hudson's Bay Company side-paddlewheel steamer, the 'Beaver' - note the beaver as figurehead. Captain Mitchell was at one time skipper of the 'Beaver'."
Author: Hunt, Charles Date: 1995 Purpose: Collecting the World |
| Aquisition Source | Mitchell, Captain William |
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