NAAXEIN • NAAXIIN • GWISHALAAYT • CHILKAT WEAVING

Pattern Board for Tunic

Tlingit
ASM II-B-1358

Traditionally, a pattern board like this one was used by a female weaver to interpret the beaver design, painted in the formline style on the board by a male artist. The weaver measured and closely followed the painted line in her weaving. The opposite side of the board is painted with a design for a robe.

S’igeidí Naaxein Kudás’ (Beaver Chilkat Shirt)

Deinkhul.át (Clara Benson), circa 1884. Needlefish House, Deisheetaan clan, Angoon Tlingit
Loan Courtesy S’eiltín (LaVerne Wise), LC.494

Clara Benson Weaving a Naaxein, Klukwan, circa 1900
ASLHC PCA87-0197. Photo by Winter and Pond.

The S’igeidí Naaxein Kudás’ (Beaver Chilkat Tunic) was made in Klukwan around 1884 by Deinkhul.át (Clara Benson), a master weaver. The shirt was made for Kwaal Éesh (Alfred Perkins) the head of the Needlefish House of the Deisheetaan clan of Angoon.

Among the rarest forms of regalia woven with the naaxein (Chilkat) technique are tunics. The Deisheetaan interprets the design on the front as a beaver, while the back features a humanoid face on top, with bands of checkerboard below. Tunics often have geometric bands on the back reminiscent of raven’s tail weaving—the precursor to naaxein.

This tunic is also very rare in that only a handful of weavings are the work of specific named weavers, —in this case, Mrs . Benson, a Chilkat Tlingit weaver from Klukwan.

In 1974, the tunic left the hands of the clan and was sold to an art dealer. After passing through three private collections, it was accessioned by the Denver Museum of Nature and Science. Under the terms of the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act, it was claimed by the Central Council of Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska and returned to the clan in 2007.