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Tobacco Bag

ca. 1865
Not on view
Returned to lender
This work of art was on loan to the museum and has since been returned to its lender.
The powerful images on this bag are simple and direct—iconic symbols of a warrior’s achievements. Hoofprints, representing horse raids, embellish the blue-painted upper panels. Below, the pair of severed heads symbolizes slain enemies. On the reverse, the pair of hands indicates additional war honors. By the late 1800s, bead workers had generally abandoned the type of early symbolic representations seen on this bag in favor of beadwork that replicated pictographic narrative painting.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Tobacco Bag
  • Date: ca. 1865
  • Geography: United States, North or South Dakota
  • Culture: Lakota (Teton Sioux)
  • Medium: Native-tanned leather, glass beads, pigment
  • Dimensions: Length: 30 in. (76.2 cm)
    Width: 7 1/2 in. (19.1 cm)
  • Classification: Hide-Containers
  • Credit Line: Denver Art Museum, Native Arts Acquisition Funds (1950.98)
  • Curatorial Department: The Michael C. Rockefeller Wing