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Seal Feast Bowl
Accession # 05.588.7321
Culture Haida
Title Seal Feast Bowl
Date 19th century
Medium Wood
Dimensions 5 1/4 x 14 1/4 x 8 1/2 in. (13.3 x 36.2 x 21.6 cm)
Credit Line Museum Expedition 1905, Museum Collection Fund
Location American Identities: Colony to Nation / Inventing American Landscape
Description Carved feast bowl in the form of a seal. The bowl is saturated with eulachon or candlefish oil, which was eaten as a delicacy and used to soften dried berries. Although the bowl is cleaned by conservators from time to time, the oil continues to advance towards the surface, especially from the interior where the oil is heavily embedded. The object is stable and in fair condition. There is an old crack in one end that is stable. There are two round holes through the bottom of the bowl, one at each end.