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Pouch
Pouch
Pouch
This relative, a pouch, features quill work including a simple line, one-quill edging, zigzag band, and two-quill diamond stitches. This relative also features a yellow and green wool yard strap, braided in an arrow motif and sew to pouch with sinew. Collected by British Army officer Jasper Grant between 1800-1809, the origins of the pouch are not certain; however, it has probable connections to Delaware.
This relative currently resides at the National Museum of Ireland.
Delaware (?)
Phillips, Ruth. Patterns of Power. Kleinburg, ON: Patterns of Power, 1984.
Phillips, Ruth. Patterns of Power. Kleinburg, On.: Patterns of Power, 1984.
Read More About This Relative
Tanned, black-dyed deerskin; porcupine quills, orange, blue, black and white; metal cones; red-dyed animal hair; leather thongs; strap of faded green and yellow wool yarn.
Quill work in simple line, one-quill edging, zigzag band, two quill diamond stitches. The strap of yellow and green wool yarn is braided in 'arrow' motif and sewn to pouch with sinew.
Black-dyed pouches of a rectangular or square shape were widely used in the Great lakes in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries and often bore images of the under-or upper world manitos. No other square pouch is known displaying the motifs on this pouch. They are probably stylized representations of horned serpents, the companions of the Underwater Panther. Such underworld images would accord with the wavy lines that border the pouch front.
Phillips, Ruth. Patterns of Power. Kleinburg, ON: Patterns of Power, 1984.
Provenance
Jasper Grant (1762-1812), Anglo-Irish officer who spent 9 years in Canada between 1800-1809. Served as commandant of Fort George in the Niagara Peninsula and of Fort Malden at Amherstburg opposite Detroit. It is likely that his wife, Isabella Grant, played a significant role in the collection of items given her close relationship to Madeline Askin Richardson, the daughter of a prominent fur trader and merchant with extensive ties to the surrounding Indigenous communities.
GRASAC research notes and National Museum of Ireland documentation.
In 1984-1985 the Jasper Grant Collection was featured in a special travelling exhibition for the Ontario bicentennial, which was organized by the McMichael Canadian Collection and entitled "Patterns of Power."
Phillips, Ruth. Patterns of Power. Kleinburg, ON: McMichael Canadian Collection, 1984.
Philips, Ruth B. (1986-87). “Jasper Grant and Edward Walsh: the Gentleman-Soldier as Early Collector of Great Lakes Indian Art.” Journal of Canadian Studies 21(4): 56-71.
About This GRASAC Record
Maker, Name unrecorded. Pouch. GRASAC ID 1323. National Museum of Ireland Collection NMI 1902.322.
This record was augmented by Dana Murray on August 17, 2025. It draws on images and information recorded in Ruth Phillips's book, Patterns of Power. Kleinburg, ON: McMichael Canadian Collection, 1984.
42.107, -83.1132
This record was augmented by Dana Murray on July 23, 2024. It draws on images and information recorded in Ruth Phillips's book, Patterns of Power. Kleinburg, On.: McMichael Canadian Collection, 1984, and GRASAC research notes from the visit to the National Museum of Ireland on July 22, 2010. Participants included Alan Corbiere, Ruth Phillips, Crystal Migwans, and Nicholas Stolle, who were assisted by Padraig Clancy and Emma Crosby.