Returned to lender The Met accepts temporary loans of art both for short-term exhibitions and for long-term display in its galleries.
Quirt
Eastern Plains, probably Meskwaki
Not on view
Made from an elk’s antler, this handle of a quirt (riding whip) is gracefully sculpted. The carver used the antler’s natural curve to create the basic form and enhanced it with depictions of feathers, headdresses, and buffalo hooves, each filled with red or black paint. The object shows the beauty of small tools produced on the Eastern Plains in the 1800s. It originally had a wrist strap and held a heavy lash.
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