M0008894: Portrait of Martha Mawlhun of Kitsegukla, by W. Langdon Kihn

Previous title, replaced October 2020: Portrait of American Indians by W. Langdon Kihn.

Watercolour of Martha Mawlhun of the Gitsegukla community (previously Kitsegukla), British Columbia, by Wilfred Langdon Kihn in 1924. According to information provided in the Wellcome Historical Medical Museum accession register, Martha is wearing an amheleit (headdress) carved with the face of a hawk (Mawdzek) with small frogs across the brow. Her blanket or cloak is made of cedar bark, swan down and ermine. Her bracelets are of split raven design engraved in silver by a Haida silversmith. The painting was commissioned by Sir Henry Wellcome for the Wellcome Historical Medical Museum in 1926 and accessioned in June 1933 (accession number CC 8483). It was later removed from the collection and sold at auction (Sotheby's Toronto, 26-28 October 1970, lot 269). Related images: M0008895, M0008896, M0008897, M0008898, M0008899.

13 July 1943

1 photograph glass plate negative; 12 x 16.5 cm

Catalogue data comes from a combination of entries in the original glass plate registers, metadata created when the glass plates were digitised in the early 2000s and enhancements made by the cataloguer in 2020.

Please consult the digitised version as this item is fragile. Email library@wellcomecollection.org to request access to the physical item.