black velvet, white seed beads, thread, red tape

Large square of black velvet trimmed with red tape and edged with white beads. Thirteen styles of beadwork are arranged in rectangular areas on the front, with stitching visible on the back. Consevator's tape applied to some areas around the edges.

"jumping pattern" (straight dotted line), "black pattern" (rows of jumping pattern aligned and connected diagonally), "diamonds" (double row of diagonal or zigzag lines), "ottertail pattern" (diamond pattern with an extended space)

Sampler commissioned to show a range of beadwork designs for ethnographic purposes.

From Densmore, Chippewa Customs (1929), 1823-4: "(a) geometric patterns. -- All informants state that geometric and "line" patterns are older than floral designs. Nawajibigokwe made a "sampler" to show the simple line patterns and their combination in wider and more elaborate designs. (Pl.79.) The simplest pattern was an uninterrupted straight line in which the beaded portions and the open portions were of equal length, three or four beads being commonly used in such a pattern. This was ccalled the "jumping pattern," and was varied by making the beaded portion londer or shorter than the open space (a). Thus a double row of interrupted lines with equal spacing might be connected by lines of equal length in such a manner as to form triangles or a "black pattern" (b and c), and a double row of diagonal or zigzag lines placed with points together formed a succession of diamonds (d). Extending the space between the crossing of the lines produced the "ottertail pattern" (f). One section of this is probably the most frequent pattern in Chippewa beadwork, unless it be the simple zigzag. The ottertail pattern is said to have been received by the Mississippi Band of Chippewa from the Ottertail Band, but this seems conjectural, as the pattern is so clearly developed from simpler forms. It is used as a narrow border and also in various widths and combinations (f and g). In a typical "ottertail border" there are two, three, or four diamonds between the straight lines and the pattern has a straight line of beads on each side."

Date Densmore's research in White Earth began to date object accessioned.

Frances Densmore, "Chippewa Customs," Bureau of American Ethnology Bulletin 86 (1929), description 183-4; reproduced on plate 79.