Materials

tanned hide, leather thong, metal cones, red dyed deer hair, red cotton tape, loosely woven cotton cloth, beige and red thread, porcupine quills natural and dyed red and blue, opaque white beads size 12, paper, tobacco.

Techniques or Format

Made of a single piece of tanned hide, sewn up on both sides. The inside is lined with cotton, sewn to the hide at the pouch's opening. Metal cones containing red dyed deer hair are attached to the pouch with leather thong, along the bottom edge and along the front, in a single row 4.5 centimetres from the bag's opening.

Inside the bag is tobacco, both loose and wrapped in cotton cloth.

Dimensions: 22 × 19 × 0 cm

Condition: Much of the quillwork, and most of the beadwork, has been lost. Some metal cones loss as well.

Current Location: National Museum of the American Indian, Washington, D.C. USA

Catalogue, Accession or Reference Number: 060360

Date of Acquisition by the Institution: 1917

Collection Narratives and Histories

This bag is said to have belonged to Handsome Lake (Gainodeiyu) the Seneca Prophet. From the Six Nations of the Grand River. Presented to Joseph Keppler by the Cayuga Chiefs while visiting them.

GKS Reference Number: 25402

Record Creation Context

This record was created by Stacey Loyer while at the NMAI on a Visiting Student fellowship, November 3-December 15 2009.