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Shoulder Bag

Comanche or Kiowa

Not on view

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.

Shoulder Bag, Native-tanned leather, glass beads, wool cloth, Comanche or Kiowa

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