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moccasins
moccasins
moccasins
A pair of centre-seam moccasins decorated with quillwork, beadwork, and unusual ribbonwork. Anishnaabe or Hodenosaunee, likely made between 1800-1810. Donated to the Ashmolean Museum by Captain King R.N. in 1831, and transferred to the Pitt Rivers Museum in 1886.
Eastern Great Lakes generally. Moira McCaffrey, curator at McCord Museum and one of the cutarots for the North American exhibition 'Across Borders: Beadwork in Iroquois Life' identified these as definitely Iroquois, probably either Seneca or Oneida (Pitt Rivers Museum Object Catalogue).
CW noted that the wide ribbon on the cuffs suggests the moccasins may be Potawatomi.
RP suggested they may have come from the Windsor-Detroit area during a period of close inter-relationship between the Anishinaabe, Odawa and Potawatomi communities of this region.
Pitt Rivers Object catalogue and observations made by the GRASAC research team.
Read More About This Relative
hide, smoked deer; sinew thread; porcupine quills, red and medium to light blue; metallic silk ribbon, green and coral-coloured; ribbon, blue; beads, white, sizes 13 seed and 6 pony
Each moccasin is made from a single piece of hide, with straight heel seams and slight puckering at the toes. Their twin ankle-flaps are cut in one with foot. There is a single band of quillwork along the toe seam, bordered with white beads. The cuffs are edged with a border of white pony beads applied in a running stitch. The ribbon work on the on cuffs is unusual. The decorative elements are of high quality (RP, CW).
Double and single curve motifs. The decorative elements on cuffs are asymmetrical - only one side has beading on the band of coral-coloured ribbon. Small triangles are beaded along both sides of the quillwork-covered centre seam. The beaded double curve motif on vamp may represent an underwater being or serpent (RP, CW).
Underwater being serpent imagery represents a powerful dynamic between upper and lower worlds. CW suggested the double parallel lines of beadwork resemble an otter tail motif.
RP said the moccasins are exquisite.
Almost identical to a pair of moccasins in the Jasper Grant collection, collected between 1800-1809 (RP).
Provenance
One of several items transferred from the Ashmolean museum to the Pitt Rivers' museum in 1886. Part of a collection donated to the Ashmolean Museum by Captain King R.N. in 1831. Described in the Ashmolean museum catalogue as "a pair of Mexican slippers of soft light brown leather."
1836 Philip Bury Duncan, "A Catalogue of the Ashmolean Museum," p.183 No 120.
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).