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1948.12.21

'Medicine' bag. Front completely covered with beadwork, floral, on translucent white bead ground. Bag lined with trade cotton material. Above bag a panel of black velvet with floral pattern in beads, and two straps covered with beadwork like that on front. Brown cloth border with zigzags of translucent white beads.

On display

1948.12.21

Digital asset copyright: Pitt Rivers Museum, University of Oxford

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Collection type
Object
Description
'Medicine' bag. Front completely covered with beadwork, floral, on translucent white bead ground. Bag lined with trade cotton material. Above bag a panel of black velvet with floral pattern in beads, and two straps covered with beadwork like that on front. Brown cloth border with zigzags of translucent white beads.
Cultural groups
Ojibwe
Person
Field collector Charles Wiegel
PRM source Denver Art Museum
PRM source Frederic Huntington Douglas
Date / Period
Date made: Before 1948
Date collected
By 1948
Acquisition information
Exchanged: 1948
Materials and processes
Material Velvet Textile, Material Cotton Seed Fibre Textile Plant, Material Bead, Process Beadwork, Process Woven
Dimensions
Length: max 1030 mm excluding tassels
Object numbers
Accession number: 1948.12.21
Research and responses

Examined by the GRASAC research team on 12 December 2007 as part of a research project to create a digital database. This will incorporate information about collections of indigenous material culture from the Great Lakes region of North America that are housed in a number of museums on several continents; see https://icslac.carleton.ca/grasac/. The group identified the materials as linen twill for the background on the front, binding mustard coloured woollen tape, tassels brown woollen yearn, back of pouch brown calvalry twill and size ten seed beads. There is machine stitching and some printed fabric has been used to line inside the pouch and back of straps. The motifs are floral, berries and zigzag band around central design field. Ruth Phillips did not think that the floral designs are a replacement for earlier geometric designs that had clear connections to narratives/cosmologies. Instead, these represent a more "hidden" version of this expression of cosmology because of elements like the "Ojibwe rose" with four petals and the replication of the zigzag design, plus great emphasis on berries too, which figure in medicine & ceremony. Dated as between 1870 to 1910 the earlier date given because of the older design style. The velvetine found on this bag was used from 1870 for black velvet beading and became predominate by 1880s. Anishinaabeg was given as the North American Nation of origin from the central Great Lakes-Michigan, Minnesota, Wisconsin area. [see researchers file GRASAC]. [ZM 07/02/2008]

Note by F.H. Douglas: 'Formerly these were functional bags, but became mere prestige symbols, often only panels.'

See 1949.3.20 - 41 for other objects sent to Denver Art Museum. [CF 30/5/2000]

Search terms: Religion, Trade, Bag, Medicine, Insignia, Status, Medical Accessory

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