mtignaagan bowl

mtignaagan bowl

mtignaagan bowl

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Introduction

This ancestor is a feast bowl with two parallel pairs of carved thunderers linking arms. Brown in colour with black speckled wood spots, this wooden bowl (possibly made of ash) shows how Anishinaabeg agency is not reliant only on human beings, but encompasses material, human, and animal realms. This ancestor is located in the Detroit Institute of Arts.

Traditional Knowledge Label
TK Culturally Sensitive
TK Culturally Sensitive

This material has cultural and/or historical sensitivities

Nation of Maker: Anishinaabe
Nation of Origin

Chippewa

Reasons for connecting this relative with particular nation(s)

According to Pohrt, M.G. Chandler "concluded from information from dealer and general design of bowl that it was Chippewa from Michigan."

Place of Origin: Michigan, USA
Date Made or Date Range: 1850
Summary of Source(s) for this Relative

Detroit Institute of Arts records, Ruth Phillips' chapter "Things Anishinaabe" in the exhibition catalogue for "Before and After the Horizon."

Materials

Wood, possibly ash

Techniques or Format

Oval bowl with shallow sloping walls and flattened base. Sharp sawed edges on the top of the human motifs.

Motifs and Patterns

Pairs of human figures are carved above the rim at each end. There are triangular pierced spaces beneath the arms of the figures. According to Phillips in "Before and After the Horizon" these human figures are thunderers.

Additional Context

Figures very similar to ones often seen on twined bags with thunderbird motifs.

Dimensions: 18.75 × 13.25 × 8.125 in
Condition: According to Pohrt, "surface of bowl was in poor condition; Mr. Chandler refinished it." Some speculation as to whether or not Chandler may have indeed made it himself.
Reasons for connecting this relative with particular times, materials, styles and uses

Date is listed as 1850 on the Detroit Institute of Arts catalogue.

Current Location: Detroit Institute of Arts, MI, USA
Catalogue, Accession or Reference Number: 81.748
Link to Institution's Collections Database: https://dia.org/collection/bowl-37675
Collection at Current Location: Chandler Pohrt Collection
Date of Acquisition by the Institution: 1981
Who the Institution Acquired the Relative or Heritage Item From: Richard A. Pohrt
Founders Society Purchase with funds from Flint Ink Corporation
Collection Narratives and Histories

(an antique shop in the Grand Blanc / Whigville area, Michigan, USA)

purchased by Milford G. Chandler [1889-1981]

purchased by Richard A. Pohrt [1911-2005] (Flint, Michigan, USA)

1981-present, purchase by the Detroit Institute of Arts (Detroit, Michigan, USA)

Source for Provenance information

As listed in Detroit Institute of Arts Catalogue.

Publication History

Maurer, E.M. "Representational and Symbolic Forms in Great Lakes Area Wooden Sculpture." Bulletin of the DIA 62, no. 1 (1986): 7-17, fig. 1.
Ruth Phillips, "Things Anishinaabe: Art, Agency and Exchange Across Time." In "Before and After the Horizon: Anishinaabe Artists of the Great Lakes" Exhibition catalogue, edited by David Penney and Gerald McMaster. National Museum of the American Indian. Washington, D.C., 2013, p. 52.

GKS Reference Number: 24560
How to Cite this Item

Unknown Maker. "Mtignaagan Bowl" GKS ID 24560, located in the Detroit Institute of Arts, catalogue number 81.748.

Record Creation Context

This record was augmented by Natasha Fares in December 2023. The photographs were removed by Natasha Fares on January 30, 2024 to respect an agreement between the Detroit Institute of Arts and the Michigan Anishinaabeg Communities of Practice group."

Approximate Place of Origin

42.918217865585, -83.638930688433

Source of Information about Places

Grand Blanc, Michigan, identified in Detroit Institute of Arts records as the area in which the bowl was purchased.

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