Materials

Tanned, painted hide, red, black, goldish; hide thong as drawstring; metal cones; red moosehair in the cones; vegetable fibre; porcupine quill, red, white, black.

Techniques or Format

The pouch is made of two panels, with side seams to joins them. The upper panel is of painted hide, the lower panel is of woven vegetable fibres with porcupine quill wrapped under and over the warp threads. The quill work is in a two row zigzag pattern.

Thongs wrapped in quill with cones and red animalhair inserted are attached to the bottom panel.

Drawstring opening at the top.

Motifs and Patterns

The upper panel is of painted hide, with a pattern of various sized triangles in red, black, and white. The zigzag motif of the quill weave in the lower panel is powerful, suggesting power lines.

Dimensions: 48 × 17.2 × 0 cm

Condition: Poor. There is considerable loss of quill work however most of the cones, attached to thongs wrapped in quill work, are intact.

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

The material in the Bibliothèque Nationale du France was collected before 1792. Autumn Epple believes it dates between 1700 and 1760.

Current Location: Musée du quai Branly - Jacques Chirac, Paris, France

Catalogue, Accession or Reference Number: 71.1878.32.136

Link to Institution's Collections Database: www.quaibranly.fr

Collection Narratives and Histories

The ethnographic works from the Bibliothèque Nationale du France are located in the Musée du quai Branly in Paris. These ethnographic works were brought together in this collection at the time of the French Revolution, around 1792. Many of these works came from the Jardin du Roi, the collection of the French kings. In 1792, inventories were made of the possessions of aristocratic French families in Paris and the provinces and many objects were selected to be added to the Bibliothèque Nationale, which was the national collection of the new Republic. Ethnographic material from the Bibliothèque Nationale was located at the Musée d'ethnographie du Trocadéro, then the Musée de l’Homme, and is now in the Musée du quai Branly.

Related language items in the GKS: mshkimot gshkibdaagan

GKS Reference Number: 864

How to Cite this Item

Unknown artist, pouch. Currently in the Musée du quai Branly, 71.1878.32.136. Item photographed and described as part of a GRASAC research trip; GRASAC item id 864.

Record Creation Notes/Observations

This record was created by Anne de Stecher during an RAship for Prof. Ruth Phillips.

Copyright

This will be open access on the completion of Anne de Stecher's dissertation research, 2011.