Top of Tsawit Pole

• Other Authors: A. de Menil
• Format: Still Image
• Language: unknown
• Published: 1992
• Subjects: Nisga'a > - Northwest Coast > Native > First Nation > Art >; Nisga'a > - Angyada > Northwest Coast > Native > First Nation > Art >; British Columbia; Canada; Nass River; Nisga'a; Stirling; Tait; Nishga; Tsimshian; Tsimshian*
• Online Access: https://digital.lib.sfu.ca/billreid-3328/top-tsawit-pole

Top secition of Nisga'a pole at the Edenburough Museum. The label reads: ""Totem Pole Red cedar carved in about 1855 by Oyea Tait, Nishga group of the Tsimshian people, Angyada village, British Columbia, Canada 1930.291 The pole was carved in memory of a Nishga chief, Tsawit. It is 11.3 meters (37 feet) high and originally stood in front of the house of Tsawit's relatives in Angyada village on the Nass River. In 1929 the pole was purchased from its owner by the Royal Scottish Museum. The carved figures are the totems, or crests, of Tsawit's family. The human figures are his ancestors, including the topmost figure wearing the ringed hat of a chief. Below are a raven, which was the principal crest of the family, another human figure holding the tail of a large fish (a white bullhead) and a second raven figure. Oyea Tait, one of the leading Nishga'a carvers of the mid-19th century, was partly of Scotish descent. In 1991 his great grandson, Norman Tait, visited the Museum to see this totem pole. Norman Tait is also a well-known artist who has carved poles in Stirling, London and Canada.""