LACMA

ShopMembershipMyLACMATickets
LACMA
Los Angeles County Museum of Art
5905 Wilshire Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90036
info@lacma.org
(323) 857-6000
Sign up to receive emails
Subscribe
© Museum Associates 2025

Museum Hours

Monday

11 am–6 pm

Tuesday

11 am–6 pm

Wednesday

Closed

Thursday

11 am–6 pm

Friday

11 am–8 pm

Saturday

10 am–7 pm

Sunday

10 am–7 pm

 

  • About LACMA
  • Jobs
  • Building LACMA
  • Host An Event
  • Unframed
  • Press
  • FAQs
  • Log in to MyLACMA
  • Privacy Policy
© Museum Associates 2025
Collections

William Spratling
Alaska Mask Necklace (Collar con máscara de Alaska)1949

Not on view
Dark metal pendant or brooch in the form of a stylized animal face with iridescent inlaid eye stones, suspended from a heavy rectangular-link chain
Silver necklace with a large pendant in the form of a stylized animal face, set with two oval turquoise stones as eyes, suspended from a flat bar-link chain.
Artist or Maker
William Spratling
United States, active Mexico, 1900-1967
Title
Alaska Mask Necklace (Collar con máscara de Alaska)
Date Made
1949
Medium
Silver, baleen from either a bowhead or blue whale, Alaskan or pinto abalone
Dimensions
Mask: 3 1/4 × 4 1/2 in. (8.26 × 11.43 cm) Chain length: 13 1/2 in. (34.29 cm)
Credit Line
Gift of Penny Morrill
Accession Number
M.2013.5.1
Classification
Jewelry and Adornments
Collecting Area
Latin American Art
Curatorial Notes
Noting William Spratling's success in Taxco, in 1945 the US Department of the Interior invited him to create a similar crafts industry to revitalize the Alaskan economy and encourage local tribes to develop their artistic talents. By 1949 a group of Alaskan veterans was sent to train at Spratling's workshop in Taxco. Altough Spratling designed two hundred prototypes, Congress abandoned the project. This striking necklace in the form of a Tlingit bear is one of the original prototypes.