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Cradleboard

ca. 1875
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 746
In most historical Plains cultures, a new mother’s relatives made a cradleboard for the baby. The complex and colorful beaded panels on this example are part of traditional Kiowa designs created by women, though many tribes favored the painted and brass-tacked frames produced by men. The cradleboard allowed the baby to be carried on the mother’s back, suspended from her saddle, or propped against the tipi. This one shows considerable use: preceding generations likely passed it down.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Cradleboard
  • Date: ca. 1875
  • Geography: Made in Oklahoma, United States
  • Culture: Kiowa, Native American
  • Medium: Tanned leather, rawhide, wood, pigment, glass beads, wool cloth, cotton cloth, brass tacks, and brass link chain
  • Dimensions: 42 1/2 × 12 7/8 × 8 3/4 in. (108 × 32.7 × 22.2 cm)
  • Credit Line: The Charles and Valerie Diker Collection of Native American Art, Gift of Charles and Valerie Diker, 2018
  • Object Number: 2018.867.2
  • Curatorial Department: The American Wing

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Cradleboard, Lakota/Teton Sioux artist, Wood, rawhide, glass beads, native-tanned leather, muslin, brass tacks, Lakota/Teton Sioux
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Cradleboard
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ca. 1890
Black-on-Black Jar, Maria Martínez Native American, San Ildefonso Pueblo, Clay and slip, San Ildefonso, Native American
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late 19th or early 20th century
Cradleboard, Wood, tanned leather, pigment, glass beads, wool cloth, metal cones, feathers, and bone, Ute, Native American
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