Knowledge Sharing Platform
hood, hunting
hood, hunting
hood, hunting
A woolen broadcloth hunting hood, decorated with silk ribbon appliqué and floral embroidery. Made between 1830-1841 in the Red River region, likely of Métis or Anishinaabe origin. Purchased by the Pitt Rivers Museum in 1893 from Edward Martin Hopkins, who collected the hood while accompanying Sir George Simpson on his voyage around the world in 1842.
The hood's materials and decorative elements - made of fine broadcloth with ribbon applique, decorated with floral silk embroidery including the thistle motif, all point to the Red River area and suggest its makers were Western Ojibwa or Metis.
Museum documentation
Read More About This Relative
woolen broadcloth, brown; silk, brown; thread, brown silk or cotton; ribbon; silk thread, green, red, soft gold.
The hood is tailored and flares at the front. Its top is shaped so that there are two projecting triangles of felt representing ears. The stitching appears to be machine sewn, but upon closer examination it proves to very even and fine hand-stitching. Silk ribbon tassels are attached at the sides and back of neck area. Floral embroidery decorates the hood's front.
Embroidered motifs on front include a thistle, and are symmetrical.
Motifs may resemble a Speier bag at the Canadian Museum of Civilization.
See Oberholtzer, Cath. Embedded Symbolism: The James Bay Beaded Hoods. Northeast Indian Quarterly 8.2 (1991):18-27.
Based on the collection date, this item was likely made between 1830 and 1841.
Provenance
Purchased by the Pitt Rivers Museum in 1893 from traveler and husband of the well-known watercolour artist Frances Anne Hopkins, Edward Martin Hopkins. The hood was was collected by Hopkins while accompanying Sir George Simpson on his voyage around the world in 1842. , The Pitt Rivers Accession book entry states that this item was collected by Edward Martin Hopkins when accompanying Sir George Simpson in his voyage around the world in 1842.
Reproduced in black and white to illustrate 'From Hudson's Bay to Oxford,' by Laura Peers, in the Friends of the Pitt Rivers Museum, Oxford Newsletter, no.40 (April 2002), p.6.
About This GRASAC Record
This record was created as part of a Great Lakes Research Alliance for the Study of Aboriginal Arts and Cultures (GRASAC) research trip to the Pitt Rivers Museum and British Museum, December 8-22 2007, funded by a grant from the International Opportunities fund of the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC).
researchers present: Heidi Bohaker (HB), Al Corbiere (AC), Stacey Loyer (SL), Janis Monture (JM), Laura Peers (LP), Ruth Phillips (RP), Anne De Stecher (AS), Cory Willmott (CW).