The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of March 29, 2024

Feast Ladle

Feast Ladle

late 1800s–early 1900s

Did You Know?

An imposing eagle presides over the bowl of this impressive ladle.

Description

Elaborate utensils, valuable possessions of Northwest Coast noble clans, were used during potlatch feasts. An imposing eagle hovers, patron-like, over this ladle’s bowl and the bounty it once served; a bear’s head appears on the underside of the bowl. Both may be crests, motifs that, like European heraldry, were exclusive to important families and referred to their histories and rights to control land and resources.
  • ?-1953
    Ralph C. Altman, Los Angeles, CA, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art
  • Coe, Ralph T. Sacred Circles: Two Thousand Years of North American Indian Art : Exhibition Organized by the Arts Council of Great Britain with the Support of the British-American Associates, [Held at the] Hayward Gallery, London, 7 October 1976-16 January 1977 : Catalogue. [London]: Arts Council of Great Britain, 1976. p. 146, cat. #326
    The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1978. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1978. Reproduced: p. 406 archive.org
    Crawford, Virginia. "Northwest Coast Indian Art." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 65, no. 9 (1978). p. 304 www.jstor.org
    Gowing, Lawrence. A History of Art. London: Macmillan, 1995. p. 494
    Adams, Henry. What's American About American Art?: A Gallery Tour in the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2008. p. 24
    Cleveland Museum of Art. The CMA Companion: A Guide to the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2014. Mentioned and reproduced: P. 339
  • Art of the American Indians: The Thaw Collection. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (March 7-May 30, 2010).
    Sacred Circles: Two Thousand Years of North American Indian Art, Hayward Gallery, London (October 7, 1976–January 16,1977).
    The Imagination of Primitive Man. The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO (organizer) (January 18-February 25, 1962).
  • {{cite web|title=Feast Ladle|url=false|author=|year=late 1800s–early 1900s|access-date=29 March 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1953.386