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moccasins, quill embroidered
moccasins, quill embroidered
moccasins, quill embroidered
A pair of late 18th century moccasins, one piece construction, with quill embroidery on the vamp and heel seams. This style of moccasin has been attributed to the Anishinaabe of the central and eastern Great Lakes. Based on their similarity to moccasins collected by soldiers who fought in Haudenosaunee/Hodenosaunee territories during the second half of the 18th century, they may be Haudenosaunee/Hodenosaunee.
Based on their stylistic similarity to Anishinaabe moccasins. The centre seam construction and the quilled motifs bear a resemblance, stylistically, to moccasins collected by soldiers in Lord Amhearst's army, who fought in Haudenosaunee/Hodenosaunee territories during the second half of the eighteenth century. This suggests they may have been made by a Hodenosaunee artist.
Museum documentation and the GRASAC research team.
Read More About This Relative
native tanned medium brown deerskin; porcupine quills in black, yellow, red-orange, yellow and white; sinew
one piece construction with centre heel and vamp seam; one row of zig-zag band quillwork on centre seam and on heel seam, single quill zig-zag or domed lines on either side of heel seam and vamp seam. A "U" shaped bordering line of red single quill around the zig-zag band that covers the puckered portion of the toe ends in double curves
Zig-zag and domed lined, double curves
the vamp design suggests a horned serpent
No quill ornament on the cuffs. This is unusual and suggests these moccasins may have been sold unfinished.
Based on the materials and the style of the quillwork. The moccasins' shape bears a resemblance to a pair of moccasins in the New France collections at the Musée du quai Branly.
Provenance
About This GRASAC Record
Unknown Anishinaabe/Hodenosaunee/Haudenosaunee artist, moccasins, quill embroidered. Currently in the Cambridge University Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology Z 35125.1-2. Item photographed and described as part of a GRASAC research trip May 2009; GRASAC item id 25989.
This record was created as part of a GRASAC research trip to Cambridge University's Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, May 4-9 2009.
Participants: Trudy Nicks, Laura Peers, Alison Brown, Sherry Farrell-Racette, Rachel Hand, Ruth Phillips, Stacey Loyer, and Amber Berson.