moose hide; porcupine quills, natural and dyed red and black; sinew; paint

Made of moose hide, pieced together and sewn with sinew. The shoulders are decorated with a moosehide fringe on 'epaulettes', pieces of which are wrapped with porcupine quills at the top and at intervals throughout the fringe. Motifs are painted onto the coat on the cuffs, collar, front and back.

The coat is decorated by geometrical motives dyed in different colors on the leather and porcupine quills.

The collector, Beltrami, acquired this coat in 1823.

Beltrami wrote in the account of his travel that he acquired this coat "such as are used by the Canadians in the Indian Territories", from Woascita, daughter of Cloudy Weather, war chief of Pillager Ojibwa, at Leech Lake, Minnesota in 1823.

The Beltrami Collection was exhibited in Florence in 1929 during the "Prima Esposizione Nazionale di Storia delle Scienze" (First National Exposition of History of Sciences"). In 1973, during a celebration of the Beltrami exhibit, Glauco Luchetti donated three objects from his own collection, which are located in Beltrami's last house in Filottrano, to the "Museo Civico E. Caffi". In 1987 the collection was used in the exhibit entitled "Missisippi 1823. Oggetti indiani raccolti da G. Costantino Beltrami" in the Galleria Lorenzelli in Bergamo.This coat has been loaned to "The Spirit Sings" Exhibition in 1988, Glenbow Museum, Calgary, Alberta

Beltrami's Collection Catalogue, p. 70
The Spirit Sings Catalogue, p. 74

Leonardo Vigorelli, Gli Oggetti indiani raccolti da G.Costantino Beltrami, Civico Museo E. Caffi, Bergamo, 1987.
The Spirit Sings. Artistic traditions of Canada''s First Peoples. A catalogue of the Exhibition, Glenbow-Alberta Institute, 1987.

This record was first created by Emanuela Rossi after a trip funded by GRASAC to the Museo Civico E. Caffi in Bergamo, Italy in October 2008.

Researchers present: Emanuela Rossi