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belt, woven
belt, woven
belt, woven
A remarkable 18th-century belt of woven porcupine quills whose motifs resemble those seen on Haudenosaunee/Hodenosaunee burden straps. The woven technique indicates an Anishinaabe maker. Acquired from Trinity College Library, University of Cambridge to the Cambridge University Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology. Described in the "Z accession register" as a "strip of quillwork" deposited by Trinity College 1914.
Loom woven quillwork is known to be a technique used by Anishinaabe women.
Museum documentation and the GRASAC research team.
Read More About This Relative
linen cloth, white; porcupine quills, natural and dyed blue-green, red-orange, black and yellow; linen thread; twisted vegetable fibre warps which do not appear to be nettle stalk but rather possibly basswood or another inner bark.
A long band of loom woven quillwork with 13 'channels' in the weave is backed with a pieced strip of white linen cloth, whip stitched to the edge with linen thread. The warps were left long and form a fringe on both ends.
Geometric motifs: alternating "L" shapes, diagonal lines of triangles, stepped triangles, and another complex form.
The motifs on the belt closely resemble those seen on Hodenosaunee burden straps woven of nettle stalk fibre with 'false embroidered' designs in moosehair or quills.
This attribution is based on the similarity of the belt's designs to burden straps collected in the eighteenth century.
Provenance
Acquired from Trinity College Library, University of Cambridge. Tag in old fashioned handwriting says: Trinity College / Library 2nd lot / May 20, 1914. The name Jennings has been associated with this item in the electronic catalogue, but is probably a mistake.
Archives of MAA`"A list of antiquities and curiosities other than books, mss, inscriptions, pictures, busts and coins, preserved in the library of Trinity College, April 1914.`' p 14 `"In the small chest of drawers known as Newton's Instrument Case, drawer 10 [?] Canadian bag [beaded border], two shoes, and belt" also "On drawer 3 Sir Isaac Newton's name is written with the date 1667"
A second document called "Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology" lists all the items transferred from Trinity College Library to MAA and on p 3 of this document is listed "Canadian bag (beaded border) 2 shoes and belt"
About This GRASAC Record
Unknown Anishinaabe artist, belt, woven. Currently in the Cambridge University Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, Z 15309. Item photographed and described as part of a GRASAC research trip May 2009; GRASAC item id 24477.
This record was created as part of a GRASAC research trip to Cambridge University's Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, May 4-9 2009.