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Belt
Belt
Belt
This relative, a belt of woven quillwork with geometric designs, is composed of cotton warp, sinew weft, and tanned hide backing. Porcupine quills used include those kept natural white as well as coloured in green, yellow, blue, black, and orange. Cylindrical blue glass beads are also used. The quillwork technique used includes a one-quill edging stitch, and the belt has a small vertical slit in one end for attachment. Collected by British Army officer Jasper Grant between 1800 and 1809, the origins of the belt are not certain; however, it has probable connections to the Mushkegowuk or northern Anishinaabe.
This relative currently resides at the National Museum of Ireland.
The nation of makers is assumed based on woven quillwork technique.
Read More About This Relative
Cotton warp; sinew weft; porcupine quills, green, yellow, natural white, blue, black, orange; large, cylindrical glass beads, blue; tanned hide backing.
Warp and weft woven with porcupine quills; one-quill edging stitch; small vertical slit in one end for attachment
blue dye in quillwork unusually well preserved
This information was informed by the following resource: Phillips, Ruth. Patterns of Power. Kleinburg, On.: Patterns of Power, 1984. It also reflects the period of Grant's military service in Canada.
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 research notes.
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 Collection, 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. Belt. GRASAC ID 25145. National Museum of Ireland Collection, 1902.332.
This record was augmented by Dana Murray on July 19, 2024. It draws on images and information recorded in Ruth Phillips's book, Patterns of Power. Kleinburg, On.: McMichael Canadian Collection, 1984, and GRASAC Research trip to the National Museum of Ireland on July 22, 2010. Participants included Alan Corbiere, Ruth Phillips, Crystal Migwans, and Nicholas 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 Walden 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.