Materials

Woolen yarn, white and blue beads

Techniques or Format

The sash is constructed predominantly by a finger weaving technique, where beads have been attached though a process of stringing beads on a separate piece of yarn and weaving them into the body of the sash as the sash is constructed (see Orchard, 1975). It is made of a rough textured woolen yarn. The yarn of the main body of the sash is a deep red, which has been dyed crosswise, 5cm, to a yellow-gold.
The yellow/gold stripes would have been achieved using a resist, mordant or from pulling the dye from the material using an acid.
At each end the yarn is braided into strands, thirteen at the end with shorter strands and fourteen at the end with longer strands. These strands separate into five-six smaller strands 4cm from the base of the sash, the twelve/eleven central strands are extensions of the deep red wool while the two outer strands are extensions of the black wool. The yellow-gold dyed stripes are present on the deep red stands but not present on the black strands.

Within the body of the sash there are crosswise white beaded zigzag designs approximately 3.5cm apart. This pattern is woven into the weave of the body itself using the same yarn. There is a matching white bead zigzag pattern lengthwise along this black strip perimeter. With close analysis of the thread that bears the white bead within the black boarder that the colours directly mimic the dyeing pattern of the body of the sash. According to Katie McLeod, this adds to the mystery of how the sash has been dyed. The same white beads used in this pattern are distributed through the strands at both ends of the sash. On the side with the shorter stands, on a single smaller strand there are five blue beads.

Motifs and Patterns

There are zigzag patters 3.5cm apart across the width of the body of the sash and along the length of the black border. There are five yellow/gold stripes along the body of the sash and the strands. This yellow-gold stripe is present three times in the body of the sash, two near each end and one central. It is bordered with a black panel of 1cm and is decorated with white beads.

Additional Context

The zigzag patterns are reminiscent of symbols associated with the Thunder Bird, which is very common in the Great Lakes region.

Dimensions: 20 × 13 × 0 mm

Condition: The sash is in very good condition aside from a few minor holes in the body of the sash.

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

The date range is based on a number of entries in the GKS of similar sashes from The British Museum, along with attribution references from III-X-377's catalogue card, and from the Canadian Museum of History's Speyer Collection: III-X-230, 243, 254,257,255, 258 and 266.

Katie McLeod observes that there is a very similar sash, item III-X-330, formerly from the Sir John Caldwell Collection, now part of the Speyer Collection, known to be collected in this time frame as Caldwell was in the American Revolution at this time.

Current Location: Canadian Museum of History, Ottawa, Canada

Catalogue, Accession or Reference Number: X-III-377

Link to Institution's Collections Database: collections.civilization.ca

Collection at Current Location: Messiter Collection

Date of Acquisition by the Institution: 1982

Who the Institution Acquired the Relative or Heritage Item From: Sotheby Parke Bernet Inc, New York

Date Relative was First Removed or Collected from its Community Context: Label date suggests 1820's (Jonathan King, 1982)

Collection Narratives and Histories

Research be Katie McLeod provided the following information: The item was received by the National Museum of Man (now Canadian Museum of History) on April 27, 1982. There is documentation of the catalogue for the Sotherby Fine American Indian Art Auction, which took place Saturday, April 24 1982. In the catalogue, III-X-377 is listed in lot 229 as “Eastern Great Lakes Braided Yarn Sash”, the lot number has been circled, and a check mark noted next to the accompanied image of the item. The word “parfait” is also noted next to the lot number and “$3,000” is noted below the description of the item. The note of “parfait” leads me [Katie McLeod] to believe that this was something that the museum was looking to acquire at the time, and the note of “$3,000” leads me to believe that this was either the starting bid on the item or what the museum paid to acquire the item.

In this book, "Sport and Adventures amongst the North American Indians", Messiter makes no mention of acquiring the item or other items in his collection. It is therefore speculated that the item was collected during the War of 1812 or the American Revolution (Similar to those collected by Sir John Caldwell) by an ancestor of the Messiter family. There was some effort to look into the genealogical records of the Messiter family at Library and Archives Canada, yet, little information turned up using the Messiter family name. There were many "Bayard's" listed in the military at appropriate time, which is the family name of Messiter's wife, Lucy Ashton Bayard. This may be worth investigation by future researchers to determine whether this item was acquired by Messiter through his marriage.

Source for Provenance information

Canadian Museum of History and research by Katie McLeod.

GKS Reference Number: 1314

Record Creation Context

This record was augmented by Shamina Vastani in Fall 2023.

Record Creation Notes/Observations

Katie MacLeod (KML), member of ARTH 5210, Carleton Unversity fall term 2011, created the original record.