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1952.5.011

Oval skin pouch decorated on one side with woven quillwork and bead fringes.

On display

1952.5.011

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Collection type
Object
Description
Oval skin pouch decorated on one side with woven quillwork and bead fringes.
Long description
Hide pouch with 2 horizontal bands of quillwork and bead tassels (which end in loops of beads); more bead tassels ending in wool tufts around outer edge. Quilled strap (these may be bird quills) attached by hide thong. Beads seem to be strung on very fine hide thongs. Some hide elements on pouch are painted red. [LLP 20/8/2003]
Cultural groups
Nehiyawak
Person
Field collector James Bisset
PRM source Evelyn Charles Shirley
PRM source John Evelyn Shirley
Date / Period
Date made: Before 1952
Date collected
By 1952
Acquisition information
Loaned: 05/1952 Purchased: 01/1966
Materials and processes
Material Animal Skin, Material Quill, Material Bead, Process Quillwork, Process Woven, Process Stitched, Process Beadwork
Dimensions
Length: max 650 mm incl. straps
Object numbers
Accession number: 1952.5.011
Research and responses

Examined by the GRASAC research team on 11 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 this as deer or caribou hide and probably Cree because of the colours used in the beaded fringe, which also ends in loops very typical of this group. The pouch has a rounded bottom with traces of ochre on the back, the sewing is with sinew and the strap has two cords wrapped together with quills. [see researchers file GRASAC]. [ZM 07/02/2008]

Final GRASAC caption: 'Nation of Origin Reason for Attribution : Cree: The bag's two horizontal rows quillwork, not loomed, and red ochre borders on bands of quillwork suggest that it may be of Dene origin. However, the colour combinations found in its beaded fringe, and the looped ends of the tassels are characteristic of Cree items. Materials: The bag's body is made of caribou or deer hide. Two bands of quill work (done with red and cream coloured quills) and tassels made of green, red, white, blue, black and yellow glass beads, ending with wool tufts, decorate the bag's front. Hide thong attaches the quillwork and hide thong strap to the bag's body. Sinew is used in the construction of the bag's strap. Traces of ochre paint are found on the back of the bag.

Format/Techniques: This bag has a rounded, rather than the more commonly found square bottom. Its front is decorated with two bands of zig zag quillwork and beaded fringe. The ends of the beaded fringe are looped. Its strap is made two cords or thongs which are wrapped together with quills. The bag's colours, as well as the style of quill banding, and the looping of its fringe, are characteristic of Cree items.' [L Peers, 29/04/2009]

Associated publications
The possibility that this was formerly the property of James Bisset and acquired by Colonel Shirley via the Leamington Museum is discussed in 'Painted Coats for a Coronation? (Research Notes)' by Linda Mowat in Journal of Museum Ethnography, no. 8 (1996), pp. 109-110 (photocopy in RDF). [JC 20 5 1996]

Search terms: Bag

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