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sash
sash
sash
A finger woven sash with white bead infill. Attached to the sash is a small chain and metal item, which may have been a vent pick used to clear a touch hole on a flinthook fire arm. Likely Anishinaabe or Haudeosaunee and made between 1740 and 1790. One of several items transferred from the Ashmolean to the Pitt Rivers' Museum in 1886. Donated to the Ashmolean Museum by the collector, Captain Frederick William Beechey, between 1825 and 1828.
The materials and style of the sash suggest it is of Anishinaabe or Hodenosaunee origin.
Museum documentation and observations made by the GRASAC research team.
Read More About This Relative
woolen yarn, green and red; beads, small white; iron chain and pin fastener
The sash is finger-woven, with a beaded pattern woven into the sash as it was made. The threads are left long at the ends and divided into ten separate plaits where the fringe meets with the sash. Some of the loose threads are ornamented with white beads. The sash appears to be mostly green in the centre and light red on the sides. It is difficult to tell if coloration was intentional, or is due to fading or overdying, or red dye instability.
Four parallel zigzag lines run across centre, while the borders are decorated with a row of three linked diamonds with two projecting 'horn' shapes and three parallel chevrons. Sometimes four diamonds appear, rather than three.
Motifs could represent underwater horned beings and power lines.
According to Mark Odle, an expert on 18th century powder horns and straps, the chain and metal item was a vent pick used to clear a touch hole on a flinthook fire arm. (Pitt Rivers Museum Object Catalogue)
Based on materials, this item was likely made between 1740 to 1790.
Provenance
One of several items transferred from the Ashmolean to the Pitt Rivers' museum in 1886. Donated to the Ashmolean museum by English naval officer and geographer, Captain Frederick William Beechey (1796-1856), between 1825 and 1828 (Pitt Rivers Museum Object Catalogue Entry). Item may not have been donated by Beechey. The Pitt Rivers Museum Object Cataloge states that "the vellum volume does not give Beechey as the collector/donor. This object does not appear in the list of Beechey objects in Collectors Miscellaneous."
About This GRASAC Record
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).
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).