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Anishinaabe (Ojibwe) Native North American

Bandolier Bag, 1875-1899

Description

Maker

  • Unknown

Culture

Anishinaabe (Ojibwe)

Title

Bandolier Bag

Year

1875-1899

Medium

Linen plain weave and cotton velvet with glass-bead embellishment

Materials/Techniques

Materials

  • glass,
  • linen,
  • wood,
  • cotton

Techniques

  • plain weave

Dimensions

121.9 x 36.8 cm (48 x 14 1/2 inches)

Type

  • Fashion,
  • Costume Accessories

Credit

Gift of Margaret McCarthy

Object Number

1991.027

Exhibition History

Exhibition History

“Insnared with flowers, I fall on grass"

June 10, 2014 - March 8, 2015

Bandolier bags, modeled on European shot pouches, were worn by Native men on formal or festive occasions. Also called friendship bags, they often were made as gifts to other groups. This exuberant piece from the upper Midwest features highly stylized vegetal and floral motifs expertly crafted in glass beads imported from Italy or Czechoslovakia. Floral beadwork motifs were introduced into the Native American design vocabulary by French nuns who established themselves in Quebec in the early 17th century and moved westward.

Form, Pattern, and Function

December 4, 1992 - January 24, 1993

One of the results of European contact with Native Americans was the introduction of floral beadwork and embroidery motifs into their traditional design repertoire. As traders moved West so too did missionaries who established schools to instruct the Indians. By the 1860s schools were established in the Subartctic region, around trading posts along Hudson's Bay and farther west. Missionary nuns instructed Indian girls in needlework and introduced them to floral styles which were adapted for their own uses. The mittens in this case are an example of the type of work being done by the Cree Indians living near the Hudson's Bay posts. Floral motifs were strongest in the decorative arts of the Indians around the Great Lakes as is evident in the Chippewa bandolier bag and mittens exhibited in this case. As floral styles moved westward they became more stylized as can be seen in both the man's vest, a clothing style also adopted from the Europeans, and in the pipe bag which shows how this floral style was adapted by members of the western Plains Ojibwa.

Use

The images on this website can enable discovery and collaboration and support new scholarship, and we encourage their use. This object is in the public domain (CC0 1.0). This object is Bandolier Bag with the accession number of 1991.027. To request high-resolution files or new photography, please send an email to imagerequest@risd.edu and include your name and the object's accession number.

Feedback

We view our online collection as a living documents, and our records are frequently revised and enhanced. If you have additional information or have spotted an error, please send feedback to curatorial@risd.edu.

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