Dagger (Gwálaa) (late 1800s–early 1900s): Art, History and Details

Dagger (Gwálaa) (late 1800s–early 1900s) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

After Europeans introduced firearms, the Indigenous Northwest Coast dagger transformed from a weapon into a status symbol worn in a sheath that hung from the neck. That may be the case with this example, which depicts a bear’s head over a supine human.

Object facts

• Title: Dagger (Gwálaa)
• Date: late 1800s–early 1900s
• Culture: Native North America, Northwest Coast, Alaska, Tlingit
• Type: Arms and Armor
• Technique: ivory, fiber, leather, metal (steel), shell
• Dimensions: Overall: 3.8 x 4.8 cm (1 1/2 x 1 7/8 in.); Blade: 19.1 cm (7 1/2 in.)
• Collection: AA - Native North America
• Department: Art of the Americas
• Accession number: 1916.720

Collection credit

Gift of J. H. Wade

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.