Dance object
Unknown Artist
ca. 1900
Medium
Wood, pigment, vegetal fiber, and feathers
Dimensions
17 3/4 × 24 3/4 × 36 in. (45.1 × 62.9 × 91.4 cm)
Classification
Dance object
Culture
Yup'ik, Native American
Department
The American Wing
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
The Charles and Valerie Diker Collection of Native American Art, Gift of Charles and Valerie Diker, 2019
Accession Number
2019.456.26a–c
Art Historical Context
This striking *Dance object*, created by an unknown Yup'ik artist around 1900, exemplifies the vibrant ceremonial art of the Yup'ik from southwestern Alaska. Carved from wood and adorned with vivid pigments, vegetal fibers, feathers, it measures an impressive 17 3/4 × 24 3/4 × 36 inches. These materials were carefully chosen for their symbolic power: feathers often evoked spirits or birds central to Yup'ik cosmology, while pigments in bold reds, blacks, and whites brought supernatural beings to life during performances. In Yup'ik culture, such objects were essential to winter dance ceremonies...