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Bag, embroidery panel
Bag, embroidery panel
Bag, embroidery panel
A panel bag made of navy blue stroud and decorated with very fine silk embroidery. The embroidery is characteristic of Metis or Cree and may contain four directions imagery. Collected by L. Conningham around 1909, and donated to the Pitt Rivers Museum by Irene Marguerite Beasley in 1954.
The motifs embroidered on the bag suggest a Cree or Metis nation of origin.
Museum documentation and observations made by the GRASAC research team.
Read More About This Relative
Stroud, navy; silk, black; silk ribbon, teal; size 13 seed beads; size 8 seed beads, black, white, red, yellow, green; silk embroidery floss; worsted yarn, red; thread
Two pieces of stroud are sewn together on the side with a band of embroidery around the lower third. The panel edged with silk ribbon and has identical embroidery panels on both sides. Embroidery is very fine. A beaded fringe decorates the bag's bottom panel, and tassles decorate both sides of the bag's top, around the drawstring.
Floral motifs.
CW and RP suggest the embroidery is in the Metis style, and may contain four-directons imagery. The panel design includes a triobate motif often seen on Northern Cree work. (LP)
This item was made before 1909, as this is when it was collected.
Provenance
Donated to the Pitt Rivers Museum in 1954 by Irene Marguerite Beasley. Harry Geoffrey Beasley bought the item from Mrs. Blewitt-Dowling, who acquired it from L. Conningham. L. Conningham collected the item around 1909. (Pitt Rivers Museum Object Catalogue)
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).