Materials

porcupine quills, dyed black, dull gold, orange, variegated shades of blue, deep to pale ochre, and undyed
skin thongs of tanned hide backing material, possibly tanned hide mineral or vegetable dye thread? sinew? vegetal fibre?
cylindrical blue glass beads, white seed beads brass or tin cones dyed animal (deer?) hair silk ribbon?

Techniques or Format

The artifact consists of two rectangular panels of netted quillwork, made by wrapping alternating pairs of hide thongs with dyed porcupine quills. The quillwork is stitched, possibly with sinew or vegetal fibre, to a backing (hide?). The panels are connected with lengths of quill-wrapped hide thongs. Attached across the top width of each panel is a relatively rigid metal strip, perforated and stitched to the quillwork. Both panels are bordered along their width by a single row of alternating cylindrical blue glass beads and white seed beads. A single strip of thin fabric, possibly silk ribbon, borders and hangs down from each corner of the lower panel. Across the bottom of each panel hangs a row of dyed orange animal-hair tassels, their bases wrapped with tin or brass metal cones. Extending from the tassels of the lower panel is a long-free-hanging fringe, about 1/3 the total length of the artifact, also of quill-wrapped hide thongs, finished with similar tassles and unadorned thongs.

Motifs and Patterns

The quillwork on each panel features two parallel rows of geometrical zigzag patterns and two stylized black Thunderbird figures depicted with lifelines and outlined in white. The patterning of the two panels is identical, with the exception of a small variation in the diamond motifs between each set of Thunderbird figures.

Additional Context

Within Ojibwa cosmology the Thunderbird was the most powerful animal spirit of the sky world. Ruth Phillipshas written that this motif may have served as a protective symbol, providing protection to an infant (as cradleboard decoration) or associated with victory in war (possbily as a back or neck ornament). She also suggests that the zigzag lines may be interpreted as representative of the energy or power of the supernatural Thunderbird.

Original and Subsequent Uses

May have been used as a cradleboard decoration; greater likelihood is that it was used as a back or neck ornament

Other Notes

There has been debate in the published literature and museum files about the original use of this ornament. Comparative research with other ornaments made with similar techniques and design used for cradleboards and as back ornaments suggests that this was attached to another element, probably a gorget, now missing, and used as body decoration, possibly for dancing. A rich work in terms of variety of techniques, materials, and colours used. It is a piece designed for movement, given the long tassels and extravagant fringe.

Dimensions: 84.5 × 18.25 × 16.5 cm

Condition: Good condition. Some of the dyed quillwork is faded. The uppermost tin strip is broken off at one corner. The backing has degraded in several small discrete patches. The silk ribbons (?) are frayed.

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

original CMC documentation, plus comparative match with Ornament, Back with Gorget, 1750-1810, British Museum, Am,+.6992 (documented in GRASAC)

Current Location: Canadian Museum of History, Ottawa, Canada

Catalogue, Accession or Reference Number: III-G-848

Collection at Current Location: Arthur Speyer (III)

Date of Acquisition by the Institution: November 12, 1973

Collection Narratives and Histories

Very little is known of this artifact's early history. It entered Europe and became part of a French collection; the name of the French collector is not known. It was acquired by German collector Arthur Speyer II likely sometime after 1926. In 1973 the Speyer Collection was purchased for the National Museum of Canada (now the Canadian Museum of Civilization) with federal repatriation funds, one of 259 items which arrived in November of 1973.

Exhibition History

Bo'jou, Neejee! exhibition, # 54, 4/76 - 8/79
Cobourg Art Gallery, 9/79 - 10/79
From the Four Quarters, (AGO), 3/84 - 5/84
The Spirit Sings, (Glenbow Museum), 1/87 - 11/88

Publication History

Brasser, Ted J. “Bo’jou, Neejee!”: Profiles of Canadian Indian Art. Ottawa: National Museum of Man, 1976.
Garte, Edna. Circle of Life: Cultural Continuity in Ojibwe Crafts. Duluth, MN: St. Louis County Historical Society, Chisholm Museum, and Duluth Art Institute, 1984.

Comment on Source of Exhibition & Publication Data

Other Catalogue Identifiers: 73/66/87; Speyer catalogue # 120; Bo'jou Neejee # 54; 2505 (on reverse of top metal strip); '1106 A.Sp', (also on reverse)

Sources to Learn More

Coe, Ralph T. Sacred Circles: Two Thousand Years of North American Indian Art. London: Arts Council of Great Britain, 1976.
Phillips, Ruth B. Patterns of Power: The Jasper Grant Collection and Great Lakes Indian Art of the Early Nineteenth Century. Kleinburg, Ont.: The McMichael Canadian Collection, 1984.

GKS Reference Number: 25035

Record Creation Context

Record created as part of a research project for ARTH 5210 (Indigenous Arts of the Great Lakes Region: Historical Contexts and Cultural Translations), Carleton University, Ottawa, Ont., Fall 2010, taught by Ruth Phillips and supported by Judy Hall.

Record Creation Notes/Observations

Time limitations (12-week course length) necessarily limited the full extent of research possible.