Summer costume
Returned to lender
This work of art was on loan to the museum and has since been returned to its lender.This costume may be a commissioned work based on an earlier style of Gwich’in dress; by the time a British army officer collected the ensemble in the 1880s, European-style clothing predominated in Gwich’in territory. The discrete ornamentation is made in the old style with folded porcupine quills, which are remarkably well preserved.
Artwork Details
- Title: Summer costume
- Artist: Unrecorded Gwich’in artist
- Date: ca. 1880
- Geography: Canada, Northwest Territories, possibly Fort MacPherson
- Culture: Gwich'in
- Medium: Tanned caribou hide, porcupine quills, sinew, aniline dyes, wool, elaeagnus seeds, ochre
- Dimensions: Hood (a): H.19 × W. 11 in. (48.3 × 27.9 cm)
Tunic (b): H. 46 × W. 30 in. (116.8 × 76.2 cm)
Trousers (c): H. 41 × W. 18 in. (104.1 × 45.7 cm)
Knife case (d; sheath only): H. 16 x W. 4 in. (40.6 cm)
Mittens (e): H. 10 × W. 5 1/2 in. (25.4 × 14 cm) - Classification: Hide-Costumes
- Credit Line: Eugene and Clare Thaw Collection, Fenimore Art Museum, Cooperstown, NY (T0237a-e)
- Curatorial Department: The Michael C. Rockefeller Wing