woven bag

woven bag

woven bag

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Introduction

Large woven bag. Anishinnabeg, Serpent River. Collected by the English ethnologist Henry Christy around 1856 and donated to the British Museum between 1860 and 1869.

Nation of Maker: Anishinaabe
Nation of Origin

Field collected by Christy. RP notes the bag's style is Anishinaabeg.

Place of Origin: Serpent River First Nation
Date Made or Date Range: Mid 19 C
Summary of Source(s) for this Relative

Created with information from the British Museum accession record and observations made by the GRASAC research team.

Materials

Basswood tree: natural, dark brown and medium brown.

Techniques or Format

Woven.

Motifs and Patterns

Woven in a stripe pattern.

Other Notes

An additional tag, made by Henry Christy, reads: "basket of the inner Bark of Bastwood [basswood] (dimz?) made by the Indians of the Serpent River, Lake Huron."

Dimensions: 45.5 × 11.2 × 0 cm
Reasons for connecting this relative with particular times, materials, styles and uses

Henry Christy collected items from Manitoulin Island around 1856.

Current Location: British Museum, London, UK
Catalogue, Accession or Reference Number: Am.1589
Collection at Current Location: Christy Collection
Date of Acquisition by the Institution: 1860s
Who the Institution Acquired the Relative or Heritage Item From: Henry Christy
Date Relative was First Removed or Collected from its Community Context: 1856
Collection Narratives and Histories

Collected by Henry Christy around 1856, from the Serpent River community, and donated to the British Museum between 1860 and 1869.

GKS Reference Number: 26662
How to Cite this Item

Unknown Anishinaabeg artist, woven bag. Currently in the British Museum, Am.1589. Item photographed and described as part of a GRASAC research trip December 2007; GRASAC item id 266609.

Record Creation Context

This record was created as part of a Great Lakes Research Alliance for the Study of Aboriginal Arts and Cultures (GRASAC) research trip to the Pitt Rivers Museum and British Museum, December 8-22 2007, funded by a grant from the International Opportunities fund of the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC).

Record Creation Notes/Observations

researchers present: Heidi Bohaker (HB), Alan Corbiere (AC), Stacey Loyer (SL), Janis Monture (JM), Ruth Phillips (RP), Anne De Stecher (AS), Cory Willmott (CW).

Approximate Place of Origin

46.1885, -82.5606