sash

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Introduction

Finger woven sash decorated with interwoven beadwork. Anishinaabeg or Haudenosaunee, made in the mid-eighteenth century. Collected by Captain Harding or Pickering and donated to the British Museum by Sir Augustus Wollaston Franks in 1893.

Nation of Origin

Anishinaabeg or Haudenosaunee: RP based the nation of origin attribution upon stylistic characteristics.

Date Made or Date Range: Mid 18 C
Summary of Source(s) for this Relative

Created with information from the British Museum accession record and observations made by the GRASAC research team.

Materials

Made of dark brown bison hair wool or yarn, with interwoven white pony beads, with fringe tassles of wrapped quillwork done in white, red and black dyed quills, terminating in long metal cones containing red dyed deer hair. There are fourteen fringe tassels on one side and twelve on the other. Vegetable fibre thread has been used to sew the two halves together.

Techniques or Format

Finger woven, with beads interwoven in a pattern, with a quill wrapped fringe. Made of two nearly identitcal pieces sewn together in the middle.

Motifs and Patterns

Four parallel lines run vertically along the sash, with a single row of paired opposed short diagnonal lines in the three spaces between them.

Condition: It appears to have been damaged and repaired.
Reasons for connecting this relative with particular times, materials, styles and uses

Made in the mid-eighteenth century.

Current Location: British Museum, London, UK
Catalogue, Accession or Reference Number: Am,+.6989
Collection at Current Location: Christy Collection
Who the Institution Acquired the Relative or Heritage Item From: Sir Augustus Wollaston Franks
Collection Narratives and Histories

Donated to the British Museum by Sir Augustus Wollaston Franks in 1893. According to the British Museum object catalogue, Captain Harding and/or Pickering in the Great Lakes region collected this item.

GKS Reference Number: 25627
How to Cite this Item

Unknown Anishinaabeg/Haudenosaunee artist, sash. Currently in the British Museum, Am,+.6989. Item photographed and described as part of a GRASAC research trip December 2007; GRASAC item id 25627.

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), John Borrows (JB), Lindsay Borrows (LB), Alan Corbiere (AC), Henrietta Lidchi (HL), Stacey Loyer (SL), Janis Monture (JM), Bruce Morito (BM), Ruth Phillips (RP), Anne De Stecher (AS), Cory Willmott (CW).

Approximate Place of Origin

43.0703, -80.1184