Ceremonial Copper (t´łakwa)

Ceremonial Copper (t´łakwa)

Before 1900
Culture
Uncertain: Kwakwaka'wakw
Object
copper
Medium
Engraved copper
Accession Number
1970.507
Credit Line
Native Arts acquisition funds

Kwakwaka’wakw artist, Ceremonial Copper (t´łakwa), Before 1900. Engraved copper; 30 3/8 × 11 ½ × ½ in. Denver Art Museum: Native Arts acquisition funds, 1970.507

Dimensions
length: 30 3/8 in, 77.1525 cm; width: 11 1/2 in, 29.2100 cm; thickness: 1/2 in, 1.2700 cm
Department
Native Arts
Collection
Indigenous Arts of North America
This object is currently on view

Part of a collection of Kwakwaka’wakw art from Alert Bay, a small island located off the east coast of Vancouver Island, this copper was purchased from a Kwakwaka’wakw woman named Lucy Brown by James Economos, a tribal art dealer and personal collector for Morton D. May, heir to the May Company department stores. The copper was included in a sale of Northwest Coast art at the company’s Los Angeles location in 1967 and was purchased by Denver Art Museum in 1970 from a Los Angeles–based art dealer. A similar copper purchased by Economos is now in the collection of the Saint Louis Art Museum.