Copricapo con scena di caccia alle balene

This conical headdress made of branches, roots, and cedar bark represents a whale hunt, a traditional subsistence method typical of the area around Vancouver (Canada).

This hat, depicting a whale hunting scene, was likely collected by the Cremonese nobleman Fabio Ala Ponzone among the Nuu-Chah-Nulth (Nootka) people during his service in the Malaspina expedition (1789-1794), an organized journey by the Spanish Crown for the scientific study of the potential of colonial territories to improve their exploitation and strengthen Spain's dominance over its overseas possessions. The expedition had an international crew that included some of the best scientists of the time, drawn to an endeavor that had all the main ingredients of the "Enlightenment spirit": discovery, classification, and interdisciplinarity, to use a modern term. Fabio was, at that time, the youngest member and would return from that journey with impressions that would remain indelible in his memory. The expedition had significant consequences for native populations: one of its goals was to reaffirm the Crown's rights over the so-called Nootka Sound, a cove on the western coast of Vancouver Island, British Columbia, a nerve center for fur trade and a contested area between Britain and Spain since the end of the 18th century.