Object ID	T0033a-b
Object Name	Knife
Description	Iroquois Knife; Medium/Materials: Wood, leather, steel; Marks: On bottom of knife, rectangular sticker in black ballpoint ink: "F901" and in black ink: "W10433";
Dimensions	W-2 L-9 inches
Early Date	1850 ca.
Place of Origin	New York, USA
People	Iroquois/
Provenance	(1) Jonathan and Philip Holstein. Cazenovia, New York.; (2) Eugene V. Thaw 6 October 1989.;
History	Scholarly Attributions: The second paragraph of Ted Brasser's catalogue entry reads: "The popularity of human faces carved on the handles of these work knives throughout the Northeast makes reference to the long-standing tradition of carving human effigies on other items. However, as many of the early colonists came from countries where the carving of human and animal figurines on the handles of knives and spoons was quite common, European influence may have been a possible factor in this art form." Cath Oberholtzer commented - 9 July 1996 - ".. my own feelings towards European influence are two-fold: 1) that even if there is documentation (not provided in this instance), that one should also acknowledge that the Iroquois had earlier traditions of human figurines in other contexts; and (2) on the same line of reasoning, there are examples / studies of intentional adoption of European forms to subsume native meaning with "acceptable" form (eg. Micmac adoption of syllabics and Cree use of floral imagery).
Used	Iroquois

   
Last modified on: March 02, 2006