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Collection Tier:

Tier 1

Native American
Native American - Northeast and Southeast Woodland ➔ Candlestick Figure

Identifier:

2002.40.6

Description:

This carved wooden figure depicts a standing woman with long, black hair and a white, full-length gown. She stands on a square base and her raised right arm supports a candleholder. It is part of collection 2002.40 which includes 26 Ottawa figures and may have been part of a nativity scene. 

This figure is an important example of Woodland and Ottawa human figural carving with a style very similar to earlier examples of totems or medicine dolls. It helps show the Woodland's transition to Christianity, using traditional Woodland-style carvings to depict Catholic iconography. Very few, if any, other examples of Woodland Catholic or Christian devotional carvings are known.

According to Mary Belle Shurtleif, a Cross Village historian and collector, this figure is from the workshop of Father Wiekamp's convent in Cross Village. 
 

Date:

1879 – 1898

Materials:

Wood, Paint

Dimensions:

9" h

Current Location Status:

In Storage

Source:

Museum Purchase

Rights:

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Exhibit/Program

Anishinabek: The People of this Place ()

Makers/Donors

James H. Rutkowski

Ottawa