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Bag, tabbed
Bag, tabbed
Bag, tabbed
This relative, a black deerskin bag, is decorated with two tabs on the lower portion featuring a Thunderbird and underwater being images on one side and two arcs on the other. Although the precise origins of this relative are not certain, it has been attributed to the Anishinaabe on the basis of the imagery. This relative was originally collected by British Army officer Jasper Grant, probably between 1805 and 1809 while he resided in the Detroit-Amherstberg area.
This relative currently resides in the National Museum of Ireland.
This information was informed by the following resource: Phillips, Ruth. Patterns of Power: Kleinburg, On.: McMichael Canadian Collection, 1984.
Read More About This Relative
Tanned, black-dyed deerskin; porcupine quills, yellow, blue, red, white; silk grosgrain ribbon, blue, red; cotton thread; small cylindrical glass beads, small white, large blue; metal cones; red-dyed animal hair.
Quill work in simple line, zigzag band, one-quill edging stitches
The images displayed on them are derived from dream representations of the cosmic manitos and their powers.
This pouch and Pouch NMI 1902.325 represent a small group of late eighteenth-century oblong black pouches from the central Great Lakes region. all are closely related stylistically and most display finely embroidered images of Thunderbirds. The overall shape of the pouch was probably derived from the widely used pouches made of the whole skins of animals such as otters and muskrats.
Jasper Grant served as commandant of Fort George in the Niagara Peninsula and of Fort Malden at Amherstburg opposite Detroit from 1800-1809.
Provenance
Jasper Grant (1762-1812), Anglo-Irish officer who spent 9 years in Canada between 1800-1809. Served as commandant of Fort George in the Niagara Peninsula and of Fort Malden at Amherstburg opposite Detroit. It is likely that his wife, Isabella Grant, played a significant role in the collection of items given her close relationship to Madeline Askin Richardson, the daughter of a prominent fur trader and merchant with extensive ties to the surrounding Indigenous communities.
GRASAC researcher notes from research trip to the National Museum of Ireland on July 22, 2010.
In 1984-1985 the Jasper Grant Collection was featured in a special travelling exhibition for the Ontario bicentennial, which was organized by the McMichael Canadian Collection and entitled "Patterns of Power."
Phillips, Ruth. Patterns of Power. Kleinburg, On.:McMichael Canadian,1984.
Philips, Ruth B. (1986-87). “Jasper Grant and Edward Walsh: the Gentleman-Soldier as Early Collector of Great Lakes Indian Art.” Journal of Canadian Studies 21(4): 56-71.
About This GRASAC Record
Maker, Name unrecorded. Tabbed bag. GRASAC ID: 27160. National Museum of Ireland Collection, 1902.326.
This record was augmented by Dana Murray on December 1, 2024. It was informed by notes and photographs collected during a GRASAC Research trip to the National Museum of Ireland on July 22, 2010. Participants included Alan Corbiere, Ruth Phillips, Crystal Migwans, and Nikolaus Stolle, who were assisted by Padraig Clancy and Emma Crosby.
42.107, -83.1132
This information was informed by the following resource: Phillips, Ruth. Patterns of Power. Kleinburg, On.: Patterns of Power, 1984. Fort Malden is identified on the map as a possible origin for this relative, but this reflects only one place where the relative may have lived. It is not a known place of origin; it is only one location associated with where the collector, Jasper Grant, served in the British Army.