Coat

Coat

Coat

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Introduction

A moose hide coat decorated with paint, quillwork and beadwork. Northeastern North America, probably Cree made between the mid-eighteenth and mid-nineteenth centuries. Part of the Shirley Collection, this coat was one of several items loaned to the Pitt Rivers Museum by Colonel Shirley in 1952 and purchased from his son, Major Shirley in January 1966.

Nation of Maker: Eeyou (Eastern James Bay Quebec Cree)
Nation of Origin

Stylistic features.

Date Made or Date Range: 1770s to 1820s
Summary of Source(s) for this Relative

Pitt Rivers Museum catalogue entry and observations made by the GRASAC research team.

Materials

Hide, unsmoked moose; porcupine quills, red, cream, and blue; paint, red and black; glass beads in olive green, blue and white; metal cones; wool, red; fur, beaver; silk ribbon, black; stroud, red; vermillion

Techniques or Format

The coat has a straight, rather than tailored cut, and has been cut from a single hide with a false centre seam along the back. The cuff is formed with hide folded or turned up, with fur then applied to former inside which is now the cuff. There are painted and incised or impressed decorations in black and red along the hem and front facings, and diagonal and vertical lines along the spine on the back of coat, to the waist. A single quilled rosette has been placed at the bottom of each of the three painted vertical lines, or narrow panels, on the back of the coat. Long quill-wrapped fringes hang from the back of the neck, terminating in metal cones and red wool tufts. Folded quillwork decorates the epaulettes.

Motifs and Patterns

"Painted geometric designs in black and bright red around hem, outlining darts on either side of body from underarms to waist... At the back centre there is an upward-pointing triangle to the lower back with three quill-wrapped small rosettes each at 25mm across... The band of quill-work at the sleeve end of the epaulet has three (or perhaps four - ? damage) rectangle claw designs." (Laura Peers and visiting researcher, Cory Silverstein, 12/3/2001 - Pitt Rivers Museum Object Catalogue entry)

Laura Peers noted that the coat "would have sounded magnificent" because it has a row of tinkle cones along its bottom edge.

Dimensions: 80 × 0 × 0 cm
Condition: No obvious wear around waist.
Reasons for connecting this relative with particular times, materials, styles and uses

First half 19th of the century-- materials suggest early part of that period or late 18thC. GET SHERRY TO COMMENT.

Current Location: Pitt Rivers Museum, Oxford, United Kingdom
Catalogue, Accession or Reference Number: 1952.5.02
Collection at Current Location: Shirley Collection
Date of Acquisition by the Institution: 1952
Who the Institution Acquired the Relative or Heritage Item From: Colonel Shirley via Major Shirley
Collection Narratives and Histories

This item is part of a collection loaned to the Pitt Rivers Museum by Colonel Shirley in 1952 and purchased from his son, Major Shirley in January 1966. There is a possibility that this coat was formerly owned by James Bisset and acquired by Colonel Shirley through the Leamington Museum. (Pitt Rivers Museum Object Catalogue entry). It may have been purchased to be worn, or as a curiosity for a collection.

Publication History

Mowat, Linda. "Painted Coats for a Coronation? (Research Notes)," Journal of Museum Ethnography 8 (1996): 109-110.

GKS Reference Number: 24549
Record Creation Context

This record was created as part of a research trip to the UK December 8-22, 2007.

Record Creation Notes/Observations

Researchers present: RP, JM, CW, LP, AC, AS, SL

Approximate Place of Origin

43.6, -71.9

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