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Shoulder Bag

ca. 1845
Not on view
Returned to lender
This work of art was on loan to the museum and has since been returned to its lender.
This bag’s beaded design features the double-crescent naja. Possibly considered a protective symbol, the naja also appears on both Comanche and Kiowa painted, rawhide cylinders and silver bridles. Moorish in origin, the naja motif came to the American Southwest by way of the Spanish. Two of the eight bags of this type currently in collections were acquired from the Comanche before 1850, and all may have originated among them. The bags likely held bullets and other shooting supplies.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Shoulder Bag
  • Date: ca. 1845
  • Geography: United States, Texas or Oklahoma
  • Culture: Comanche or Kiowa
  • Medium: Native-tanned leather, glass beads, wool cloth
  • Dimensions: Length: 34 5/8 in. (87.9 cm)
  • Classifications: Hide-Containers, Beads-Containers
  • Credit Line: Musée du quai Branly, Paris (71.1878.32.160)
  • Curatorial Department: The Michael C. Rockefeller Wing