BOX DESCRIPTIONmore -->
Boxes are usually taller than they are wide. Many plain and decorated boxes and chests were used for storage of ceremonial clothing, masks, musical instruments, food, other household goods, and other ritual materials. They are usually painted, but are occasionally left plain.
Chests are wider than they are tall. They are usually carved in relief, and are occasionally painted. A few are both carved and painted. The above pictures show an elaborately carved and painted chest. Note the inlaid shell highlights on the front and back, the operculae inlaid on the lid edge and the unusual use of blue paint.
Both boxes and chests have straight tops that could accommodate a lid. Kerfed (bent wood) containers with undulating rims (as seen in the images above) are often called dishes. They were sometimes used to hold food during feasts.
If boxes or dishes had lids, sometimes these were made from basketry as seen in the pictures below.
The dishes below are shiny from holding eulachon grease. Eulachon grease is made from a small fish that returns to the coastal rivers of British Columbia each year. The grease is used as a prestige food in feasts. Dishes used to hold grease were often carved but not painted.
Some boxes have been kerfed and bent (see below, left). It is fitted with a domed lid. After the box was made, the sides were carved in parallel rods, similar to rod armour worn by some northern groups.
Rod armour (see below, right) was made from slats of strong wood tied parallel, wrapped around the body and tied securely.
The sides of the boxes are usually made from one plank of western red cedar. The plank is carefully adzed and sanded, possibly using shark skin as sandpaper. This plank is kerfed, the plank is steamed and carefully bent into a rectangular shape. The joined corner is pegged onto the bottom edge of the box.
The box lid is usually not recessed, but simply placed on top, sometimes tied on with cordage. Chest lids are more elaborate, often hollowed out to make them lighter, and channeled to allow a good fit on the top of the chest. This sounds much easier than it is!
This box is made to fit in the prow of a canoe. The kerfs are cut at a slant rather than straight across the plank. After the box was made it was decoratively adzed, making parallel grooves.
