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Shirt
Shirt
Shirt
This relative, a tanned deerskin shirt, is rubbed with ochre and ornamented with floral or star cut out motifs, and made with a metal punch. The origins of the shirt are not certain; however, it resembles the Onkwehonwe (Iroquois) shirt sketched by Baroness Hyde de Neuville in the early 19th century as well as Mississauga Anishinaabe garments of this period. This relative was collected by British Army Officer Jasper Grant between 1800-1809.
This relative currently resides at the National Museum of Ireland.
This relative shares similarities to hide clothing worn in an early 19th century drawing of a Haudenosaunee/Hodenosaunee man made from life by Baroness Hyde de Neuville in the collection of the New York Public Library (drawing reproduced in Phillips Patterns of Power).
Read More About This Relative
Tanned deerskin; red ochre, sinew and thongs used for stitching
The seams of the coat are not sewn but are tacked together with thongs. Red pigment is applied decoratively to edges of the garments. No trade materials were used except in the cutting out of the circular and foliate perforations ornamenting the shoulders and triangular flap of the coat. These were probably made with a trade metal punch. Grant's description of the 'ordinary hunting dress' of men fits this example well.
double row of punched motifs along the edges of the triangular deorative back flap, stylized floral or star motifs made with a metal punch, also smaller diamond/circular motifs on hide pendant form below, fringing
This information was informed by the following resource: 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.
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. Shirt. GRASAC ID: 26002. National Museum of Ireland Collection, 1902.307.
This record was augmented by Dana Murray on October 2, 2024. It was informed by information and images from the GRASAC research trip to the National Museum of Ireland on July 23, 2010. Participants included Alan Corbiere, Ruth Phillips, Crystal Migwans, Nicholas Stolle, who were assisted by Padraig Clancy and Emma Crosby.
42.107, -83.1132
This information was informed by the following resource: Phillips, Ruth. Patterns of Power. Kleinburg, On.: Patterns of Power, 1984. Fort Walden is identified on the map as a possible origin for this relative, but this reflects only one place where the relative may have lived. It is not a known place of origin; it is only one location associated with where the collector, Jasper Grant, served in the British Army.