Dagger
On loan to The Met
This work of art is currently on loan to the museum.Forged from a single piece of iron, this dagger belongs to a group of related works whose subject is an emaciated shaman. The pommel has been transformed into a forbidding double-faced human head whose gaze and gaunt facial features may depict a being who fortified the weapon’s owner against evil forces. Perforations along the brow and the pierced septum of the figure’s aquiline nose may have once held adornments. The artist could have obtained the iron from a meteor or through trade. This work was an important heirloom passed down through the Lukaax.adi clan of Haines, Alaska, and was used in potlatch ceremonies.
Artwork Details
- Title: Dagger
- Artist: Attributed to Saayina aat (Tlingit)
- Date: ca. 1780
- Geography: Made in Alaska, United States
- Culture: Tlingit, Native American
- Medium: Iron, tanned leather, wool cloth, vegetal fiber, and human hair
- Dimensions: 18 1/2 × 4 1/4 × 1 in. (47 × 10.8 × 2.5 cm)
- Credit Line: The Charles and Valerie Diker Collection of Native American Art, Promised Gift of Charles and Valerie Diker
- Object Number: L.2018.35.58
- Curatorial Department: The American Wing