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fan
fan
fan
Fan made of birchbark with turkey feathers, featuring brightly coloured porcupine quillwork in floral motifs and edged with silk ribbon. Each side of the fan has different floral designs. Collected by Martin Pitzer, this item is currently housed at the Weltmuseum Wien in Vienna, Austria.
In Martin Pitzer's "Index of Objects and Woks of an American Indian Tribe in the Far North, Together With a Description of the Same," he writes that the items in this book are from "the north ‐ eastern part of North America, and is called the tribe of the Otawahs, or Ottawas" (35).
GRASAC research notes created during an onsite visit to Weltmuseum in January of 2016.
Read More About This Relative
Birchbark, porcupine quills, turkey feathers, silk ribbon, cotton thread.
Two birchbark quilled panels sewn together with silk edging, feathers inserted in between; small cord of blue and white cotton thread.
Floral motifs; different on each side.
Martin Pitzer collected this item; he travelled to the Great Lakes region in the 1850s.
Provenance
Austrian church painter Martin Pitzer travelled to the Great Lakes region, to "the Ottawa villages of Arbre Croche and Cross Village" in the early 1850s. He collected a significant number of items and brought them back to Austria to be part of an exhibition to raise money for the mission.
About This GRASAC Record
Unknown Odawa artist, fan. Currently in the Weltmuseum Wien, Vienna, Austria, 131766. Item photographed and described as part of a GRASAC research trip January 2016; GRASAC item id 59049.
In January of 2016, a small team of GRASAC researchers visited the collection to study and photograph it: Ruth Phillips, Lisa Truong, Naomi Recollet (Anishinaabe (Odawa/Ojibwe), Wiikwemkoong Unceded Territory) and Wahsontiio Cross (Mohawk, Kahnawake). This GKS record was created in January of 2022 by GRASAC RA Aidan Mitchell-Boudreau.