birchbark; sweetgrass; brown thread; porcupine quills, natural and dyed green, and possibly purple/red(?)

This container is made of quilled birchbark and bundle coiled sweetgrass that has been secured with brown thread. The birchbark lid and base are lined with birchbark.

The lid is ornamented with an eight pointed star, or petalled flower motif against a natural birchbark background and surrounded by quilled flecks of green. It appears that the flower petals or points originally alternated in colours of natural/white, and purple/red. A series of red/purple X's or crosses ornament the birchbark strip around the middle of the container.

Eight as a multiple of four may reference the four quadrants. If the points or petals originally alternated in natural/white and purple/red, the original appearance of the quilled motif would have exaggerated the possible reference to the four quadrants, with four points or petals in natural/white, and the other four in purple/red.

It appears that the birchbark lining on the inside of the lid was added as the artist was working. The back of the quillwork of the star or flower is hidden by the lining, whereas the green quills that surround the flower are worked through it. Perhaps the green quills were added later to better secure, or flatten the design to the interior liner(?) There are also three quilled X's or crosses found at the base of the container, this may have been a possible signature of the artist(?)

Museum documentation

Collected by Herman ten Kate in 1880s, purchased from him by the museum in 1883

Pieter Hovens, with contributions by Duane Anderson, Ted Brasser, Laura van Broekhoven et al. "The Ten Kate Collection 1882-1888". Leiden: ZKF Publishers, 2010.