Heiltsuk Chief’s settee

Heiltsuk Chief’s settee

Object
Indigenous Peoples
Material culture
Living Conditions

This source is a carved settee made by Richard Carpenter, a chief and carver of the Heiltsuk tribe. This settee was intricately carved out of wood with clear patterns and designs of birds and other animals on it. As a settee, it would have been used to sit on or ornamentally in the chief’s home. The fact that it is a settee is quite surprising as it is not a typical item thought to be found in the home of an Indian chief at this time and could be used to make a point about how colonial settlers perceived indigenous peoples at this time; seeing them in some cases as not civilised, but this object that clearly people still use even today says otherwise. This object fits into the themes of culture, living conditions and indigenous peoples.

Richard Carpenter

Royal BC Museum

http://royalbcmuseum.bc.ca/100/object/heiltsuk-chiefs-settee/

19th century

Stephanie Ternier

Royal BC Museum no. 1856

N/A

Material object - organics: wood

19th century British Columbia