Knowledge Sharing Platform
basket, birchbark
basket, birchbark
basket, birchbark
A birchbark basket with a rim wrapped in split root and porcupine quills. This single basket may have been part of a nested set made in graduated sizes. Given the location where it was collected and catalogue information it was probably made by an Anishinaabe or Chippewa artist. Collected by G.C. Beltrami in Wisconsin in 1823. Around 1856, Beltrami's nephew donated several objects, including this one, to the Civic Library of Bergamo. Later the collection was transferred to the Museo Civico di Scienze Naturali, its current location.
Leonardo Vigorelli deduces that the "Local Group of Origin", as he writes in the Beltrami Collection''s Catalogue, is "Chippewa".
Based on museum documentation.
Read More About This Relative
birchbark; split root; porcupine quills, dyed red and black.
This basket is made from a single piece of birchbark. The square base is made by four cuts in the piece of birchbark, with each seam held in place by a small tacking stitch to prevent the bark from splitting. The rim is reinforced with split root and wrapped at 90 degree intervals with porcupine quills.
Provenance
Collected by G.C. Beltrami from Wisconsin in 1823. Beltrami's collection catalogue states that around 1856, Beltrami's nephew donated several objects to the Civic Library of Bergamo, which were later transferred to the Museo Civico di Scienze Naturali.
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 were 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.
Beltrami's Collection Catalogue.
Vigorelli, Gli Oggetti indiani raccolti da G.Costantino Beltrami, p. 55.
Leonardo Vigorelli, Gli Oggetti indiani raccolti da G.Costantino Beltrami, Civico Museo E. Caffi, Bergamo, 1987.
About This GRASAC Record
This record has been 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.
44.16098, -91.78108
In the Beltrami Collection Catalogue, the author, Leonardo Vigorelli, defines "Upper Mississippi" the Cultural Area of Origin. He defines "Northeast" as the Geographic Area.