coat

coat

coat

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Introduction

A Huron-Wendat sealskin coat with appliqued cloth cut-outs of humans, animals, and a pipe, embroidered in moosehair in floral motifs (SE). Probably made for the tourist trade and collected in 1869 by Alfred Engel, a French textile merchant. Part of an outfit (see III-H-481, III-H-482). Formerly at the Musee De L'Impression Sur Etoffe, Mulhouse, France.

Nation of Maker: Huron-Wendat
Nation of Origin

museum documentation

Place of Origin: Wendake
Date Made or Date Range: 1800s to 1869
Materials

sealskin, red cotton (?); red stroud; moosehair undyed (white) and dyed blue, yellow and purple; red silk ribbon, beige cotton thread. (SE)

Techniques or Format

Body of coat made from four pieces of sealskin with set in sleeves. Ribbon-bound trim at sleeves, lapels, and bottom edge. Appliqued stroud patches, embroidered with dyed moosehair. Cotton (?) lining quilted onto sealskin with a machine stitch in a diamond shaped pattern with beige cotton thread. (SE)

Motifs and Patterns

beaver(?), crescent, diamond, flowers, frog, full human figure, goose (?), horse head, human head, leaf, smoking pipe, sun, tomahawk, triangle. (SE)

Additional Context

FRONT: figures - Huron man in a traditional outfit (LS) 2 suns, half-moon, tomahawk, peace pipe. BACK: (LS) a frog: possibly referring to the origin story of grandmother frog who went to the bottom of the sea to gather dirt and put it on the back of the giant turtle. (LS) birds, doves? could also be mythological figures

Other Notes

part of a complete outfit including leggings and hat(see III-H-481, III-H-482)

Condition: Worn, hair missing, skin dehydrated, small holes in stroud patches, moosehair pigments faded. (SE)
Reasons for connecting this relative with particular times, materials, styles and uses

Date of Collector’s travel in North America in 1869. (SE)

Catalogue, Accession or Reference Number: III-H-480
Date of Acquisition by the Institution: 1977-04-19
Who the Institution Acquired the Relative or Heritage Item From: Musee De L'Impression Sur Etoffes, Mulhouse France
Collection Narratives and Histories

formerly in the collection of the Musee de l'Impression sur Etoffe, Mulhouse, France.
See museum documentation

1869-Purchased by Alfred Engel during a trip to North America in 1859, possibly Niagara Falls or Quebec City as Engel spent time in New York City and could have made side trips to either place.by Alfred Engel. Donated to the
Donated to the Mulhouse Industrial Society by A. Engel in 1872 and transferred to the ethnographic collection of the Fine Arts Museum, Mulhouse in 1883
Post WWII- Placed in storage the Musee de L'Impression sur Etouffes, Mulhouse.
1979-Purchased by the Museum of Man through the Movable Cultural Property Grants Program. (SE)

Sources to Learn More

de Stecher, Anne. “Huron-Wendat Women’s Traditions of Self-Representation.” Subjugation and Autonomy: Images of Aboriginal Women, A Comparative Study. M.A. Thesis, SSAC: Art History, Carleton University, 2006.

Phillips, Ruth. Trading Identities: The Souvenir in Native North American Art from the Northeast, 1700-1900, Seattle: McGill Queen’s University Press, 1998.

Turner, Geoffrey. Hair Embroidery in Siberia and North America. Oxford: Blackwell ltd., 1976.

GKS Reference Number: 26018
How to Cite this Item

Item to be cited by catalog number, collection and institution.

Record Creation Context

Created by Sheena Ellison on the basis of a prior entry made by Gloria Bell. Part of a class research project for ARTH 5210, Master's program in Art History, Carleton University, autumn 2010. Supported by Judy Hall, Curator of Great Lakes Ethnology, Canadian Museum of Civilization. Record edited by Ruth Phillips

Approximate Place of Origin

46.87, -71.35

Source of Information about Places

Eastern Great Lakes--