Pouch
Onondowahgah/Seneca, Native American
Not on view
This rare pouch encapsulates nineteenth-century Native ingenuity and creative production. The figural design—made using nonlocal materials, including faceted glass beads in a curvilinear applique stitch—represents twin brothers from the origin stories of the Haudenosaunee, the sovereign Native American confederacy of Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga, Seneca, and Tuscarora Nations. The materials date to the time of the American Revolution, when the confederacy divided its support between the American and British causes. The confederacy’s Grand Council governance system is still active today.
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