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mocassins
mocassins
mocassins
Pair of smoked hide moccasins is elaborated with a complex program of geometric motifs worked in three different techniques of porcupine quill work and beadwork. Their style suggests that they date from the mid to late eighteenth century and the motifs connect them to Huron-Wendat work. Originally from the collection of the Musée de la Marine du Louvre.
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Smoked moosehide, natural colour; heavy cotton binding, dark green, beige; beads, white and black, two sizes; metal cones, red moosehair; porcupine quill,black, white, red, beige; vegetable fibre.
The moccasins are of one piece with center seam construction, over the front of the foot. The puckering is very slight along the center seam.
The heel seam does not extend behind the moccasin and it is not a T shape.
The lines of vegetable fibre stitches on either side of the heel seam suggests that there was once a band of quill work covering it.
The cuffs are divided at the back but are not a separate piece.
Technique: Three techniques of quill work are used. There is porcupine quill in zigzag in two bands parallel to the center seam on the front of the moccasins. There is a band of woven quill over the front seam and there are also bands of woven quill on the cuffs. There are bands of either quill or moosehair wrapped over a strip of hide, in bands on the cuffs.
There is heavy beige cotton binding on the back of the cuffs and green binding on the front of the cuffs, worked with black and white beads.
There are metal cones trimmed with red animal hair on the cuffs.
The patterns of the different bands of quill and beads are matched. The color scheme in the quill work plays with positive and negative space.
The white and black beads are worked in the same geometric pattern as the woven quill work on the cuffs.This is a motif that is similar to twined pouches of the Great Lakes region, such as the Huron-Wendat twined pouch in the British Museum, in the GKS, Sl Misc 203.
The style of porcupine quill work and the center seam construction were more prevalent in the eighteenth century. Autumn Epple theorizes they date between 1700 and 1760.
Provenance
The Musée de la Marine originated in the seventeenth century as a collection of models of French ships, within the tradition of cabinets of curiosity and also with a teaching purpose for engineers and builders. A description of the models in the collection in 1756 included bark canoes from Canada. In 1827 Charles X. initiated the Musée de la Marine at the Louvre. Sailors, officers, and scientists of the French Marine, who sailed to all parts of the world, continued to bring back objects found in their travels to give to the King. Nineteenth century accounts of the model collection mention ethnographic works located with it. These works were transferred to the Musée d’archeologie nationale at the Château St. Jean Marlay, and then in 1909 they were moved to the Musée d'ethnographie du Trocadéro. From there they went to the Musée de l’Homme (Amérique), and then to the Musée du quai Branly. Given the early beginnings of the collection of the Musée de la Marine, ethnographic works from this collection could date from an early period of French presence in North America.
Premières Nations, Collections Royales, at the Musée du quai Branly, February 13 - May 13, 2007.
Christian Feest, Premières Nations, Collections Royales: Les Indiens des forêts et des prairies d'Amérique du Nord (Paris: musée du quai Branly, 2007).
About This GRASAC Record
Unknown artist, moccasins. Currently in the Musée du quai Branly, 71.1909.19.61Am. Item photographed and described as part of a GRASAC research trip; GRASAC item id 1178.
This record was created by Anne de Stecher during an RAship for Prof. Ruth Phillips, from fieldtrip research conducted through SSHRC.
deStecher, Annette. Engaged Histories: Wendat Women’s Souvenir Artsof Cultural Preservation and Entrepreneurial Invention. PhD dissertation. Ottawa: Carleton University, 2013.
This record will be without restrictions on the completion of Anne de Stecher's dissertation, 2011.
43.2557, -79.0718
MQB catalogue and style.