sweetgrass, natural and possibly dyed purple(?); birchbark; porcupine quills, dyed green, possibly red or purple(?), and possibly yellow(?); brown thread;

This container is made of bundle coiled sweetgrass and has a birchbark lid and base that have been sewn with brown thread. The face of the lid is decorated with quillwork and lined with birchbark. The lid has been tied to the container body with thread.

A possibly red/purple and yellow equal-armed cross combined with a square, surrounded by four red/purple X's or crosses against a natural birchbark background.

Possible reference to the four-quadrants

It appears that the birchbark lining on the inside of the lid was added as the artist was working. The back of the quillwork of equal-armed cross motif is hidden by the lining, whereas the four X's or crosses that surround the larger motif are worked through it. Perhaps the X's were added later to better secure, or flatten the design to the interior liner(?). There are also two small quilled lines of red and green found at the base of the container, this may have been a possible signature of the artist(?). The purple sweetgrass found inside the lid may have been either dyed or natural, as the base of sweetgrass will sometimes have a reddish or purple hue.

Museum documentation

Collected by Herman ten Kate in the early 1880s, purchased from him by the museum in 1883.

Pieter Hovens, with contributions by Duane Anderson, Ted Brasser, Laura van Broekhoven et al. "The Ten Kate Collection 1882-1888". Leiden: ZKF Publishers, 2010.