Materials

Unidentified type of wood for cradleboard base, foot support and bow; grosgrain fabric lined with blue satin for cover; suspended circular pendant made of black cotton bound with gray fabric and secured with commercial white thread in herringbone stitch; green paint (or dye) used on base, bow and securing materials for bow; opaque orange, opaque brown, opaque yellow and translucent yellow glass beads decorate cover, and opaque blue and opaque red glass beads ornament circular pendant; sinew and thongs used to secure materials; commercial thread used in object beadwork and appliqué; wool yarn used to secure cover to the support on the base; unsmoked skin thong used to suspend pendant.

Techniques or Format

The base of the cradleboard is a single rectangular piece of carved wood painted green; the top edge of the back board is carved in a scalloped contour, while the foot and side edges of the base remain square. The upright curved bow is a separate piece of wood also painted green; both ends of the bow coincide with two rectangular carved slits 7.5 cm from the top edge of the base; the ends of the bow are secured to the base with unidentified animal skin which is twisted and threaded through the single holes on either end of the bow and tied around the pairs of holes at either side. This twisted animal skin has also been painted green to match the cradleboard base and bow.
The support of the cradleboard is created using a seperate piece of wood which is curved on the sides and straight at the foot, and is secured to the base with sinew threaded through pairs of circular holes.
The cover of the cradleboard consists of two sewn together pieces of grosgrain fabric, and is fitted around the wooden support with blue wool. The cradleboard cover is ornamented with beadwork appliqué in stylized floral motifs which were applied by hand using a beige thread. The sides of the cover are held together at the centre of the cradleboard by the lacing of hide thongs through corresponding holes.
The circular pendant hanging from the bow was created by securing grey fabric piping around black cotton using white thread in a herringbone stitch. The pendant is decorated on either side with a beaded star motif, and is suspended from the bow by a string of tanned unsmoked skin.

Motifs and Patterns

Floral designs of quatrefoils, tulip-shaped flowers, and zigzag lines (Possibly thorns? Possibly lanceolate shaped leaves?) radiate from common stem on beadwork of the baby bag. Eight-pointed star ornaments either side of suspended circular pendant.

Additional Context

The four-petaled flowers and eight-pointed stars may have cosmological references and the zig-zag lines (?) may possibly reference the Thunderbird Manitou found in beadwork on object.

Dimensions: 0 × 16.9 × 43 cm

Condition: Overall good: slight damage to beadwork, bow loose, paint slightly worn from edges, all fabric somewhat faded, thong dirty.

Reasons for connecting this relative with particular times, materials, styles and uses

Collected by F. G. Speck June-July, 1913.

Current Location: Canadian Museum of History, Ottawa, Canada

Catalogue, Accession or Reference Number: III-G-196

Date of Acquisition by the Institution: 1913-07-26

Who the Institution Acquired the Relative or Heritage Item From: F. G. Speck

Collection Narratives and Histories

Collected by F. G. Speck in the summer of 1913 while conducting fieldwork in Temagami. Likely received by the institution on July 19, 1913, and was officially accessioned on July 26, 1913.

GKS Reference Number: 27197

How to Cite this Item

CMC III-G-196

Record Creation Context

Research for ARTH 5210 (fall term, academic year 2010-11)- Indigenous Arts of the Great Lakes Region: Historical Contexts and Cultural Translations taught by Ruth Phillips, assisted by Judy Hall.

Record Creation Notes/Observations

Due to the limited time of the course I was not able to conduct research on the maker of this object, I would have liked to research this further by interviewing members of the Temagami community.