NAAXEIN • NAAXIIN • GWISHALAAYT • CHILKAT WEAVING

Killer Whale Flotilla Naaxein

Attributed to Kháaxh’eidei.át (Tlingit) Ghaanaxhteidí clan, Klukwan. At.óow of the Naanyaa.aayí clan, Stikine Tlingit, Wrangell
Loan Courtesy Luella Knapp, LC.491

Sheiyksk VII Charlie Jones, also known as Chief Shakes VII, wearing the Killer Whale Flotilla Robe.

A few early Chilkat robes break up the design field on a grid into individual, repeated small patterns—a composition reminiscent of raven’s tail weaving. In this example, a killer whale swims within each rectangular section. This is one of three known to exist that also feature a “killer whale flotilla.”

The robe was commissioned around 1890 for the Naanyaa.aayí clan leader Sheiyksh VI (Gush Tlein) of Wrangell. After his death, the robe was passed to the caretakership of his successor, Sheiyksk VII (Charlie Jones). The weaver of the robe was likely Kháaxh’eidei.át of Klukwan, based in part on the unusual use of green dyed fringes on the sides and bottom—a feature it shares with six other robes in existence.

In the 1940s, the robe left the clan when the US government would not allow it to be inherited within the clan according to Tlingit tradition. It then passed through the hands of several dealers and collections and was ultimately donated to the Denver Museum of Nature and Science. Under the terms of the repatriation act (NAGPRA), the Central Council of Tlingit & Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska claimed the robe on the basis of its cultural significance, and in 2007 it was returned to the Naanyaa.aayí clan in Wrangell.