sash

sash

sash

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Introduction

A finger woven sash made of blue and red worsted yarn, with white bead infill. Likely made from a pair of garters. From the Great Lakes region, made between 1780-1815. Originally part of Charles Ramsden's collection, this sash was bought by the University of Oxford in 1878, and transferred to the Pitt Rivers Museum from the Ashmolean museum in 1886.

Nation of Maker: Algonquin Hodenosaunee/Haudenosaunee Other
Nation of Origin

The construction suggests it was made in the Great Lakes region, although wrapped fringe treatment is unusual for this style of sash. A blue foreground is also uncommon.

Date Made or Date Range: 1780s to 1810s
Summary of Source(s) for this Relative

Museum documentation

Materials

worsted yarn, red and blue; glass beads, white; porcupine quills; tin; animal hair (bear?), black

Techniques or Format

Woven, and ornamented along the middle with six parallel zig zag rows of small white beads. The edges have a narrow brown border between single rows of white beads. The ends have been plaited into eleven pieces and bound with coloured porcupine quills, each of which has at the end a little tin cone containing a tuft of black animal hair. It was woven in two separate pieces, and has been sewn together in the middle with linen thread.

Other Notes

It is very short for a sash. Its short length and its having been two pieces suggests this item may have originally been a pair of garter pendants, later sewn together.

Reasons for connecting this relative with particular times, materials, styles and uses

Made with worsted, not woolen yarn. This information suggests a date of manufacture somewhere between 1780-1815.

Current Location: Pitt Rivers Museum, Oxford, United Kingdom
Catalogue, Accession or Reference Number: 1886.1.966
Date of Acquisition by the Institution: 1886
Who the Institution Acquired the Relative or Heritage Item From: Ashmolean museum
Date Relative was First Removed or Collected from its Community Context: before 1878
Collection Narratives and Histories

Transferred to the Pitt Rivers Museum from the Ashmolean museum in 1886. It was part of Charles Ramsden's collection, bought by the University of Oxford in 1878.

GKS Reference Number: 24664
Record Creation Context

This record was created as part of a Great Lakes Research Alliance for the Study of Aboriginal Arts and Cultures (GRASAC) research trip to the Pitt Rivers Museum and British Museum, December 8-22 2007, funded by a grant from the International Opportunities fund of the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC).

Record Creation Notes/Observations

researchers present: Heidi Bohaker (HB), Al Corbiere (AC), Stacey Loyer (SL), Janis Monture (JM), Laura Peers (LP), Ruth Phillips (RP), Anne De Stecher (AS), Cory Willmott (CW).

Approximate Place of Origin

43.0612, -78.4489

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