Ornament

Part of a killer whale fin ornament from a head dress; carved and decorated in the form of a face and painted in red, yellow and black; Northwest Coast British Columbia, Tlingit. The function of the headdress varies with its type and its area on the coast; northern, that is Tlingit, Haida and Tsimshian, headdresses are usually crest objects; they display the clan affiliation of the wearer and often achieve the status of crests themselves; the rim of the killer whale fin crest often had long tassels of hair attached to it to form a fringe which waved in the air when worn.