Shoulder bag
Anishinaabe, probably Ojibwa, Native American
Not on view
Porcupine quills are applied in three distinct ways on this late eighteenth-century shoulder pouch. For the horizontal panels, the artist loom wove colorfully dyed quills. Across the bottom and top, she sewed naturally white quills directly onto the black-dyed leather to create a zigzag motif. Finally, she wrapped dyed quills around alternating pairs of leather thongs for the strap, giving it a distinctive netlike structure. This type of netted quillwork disappeared by the early nineteenth century.
This artwork is meant to be viewed from right to left. Scroll left to view more.