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Shoulder bag (missing strap)

ca. 1800
Not on view
The images on this black-dyed bag, traditionally used to hold amulets and other personal possessions, are part of the pictorial language of Great Lakes cultures. The figures and abstractions express a complex universe alive with seen and unseen forces. In 1845 the Anishinaabe Methodist minister Peter Jones wore the pouch in Edinburgh, posing for a group of photographs that are considered the earliest of an identified Native North American. The strap is now missing.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Shoulder bag (missing strap)
  • Date: ca. 1800
  • Geography: Possibly made in Ontario, Canada; Possibly made in Michigan, United States; Possibly made in Wisconsin, United States
  • Culture: Anishinaabe, possibly Mississauga Ojibwa, Native American
  • Medium: Tanned leather, porcupine quills, dye, glass beads, silk ribbon, metal cones, and deer hair
  • Dimensions: 12 × 9 in. (30.5 × 22.9 cm)
  • Credit Line: The Charles and Valerie Diker Collection of Native American Art, Gift of Charles and Valerie Diker, 2019
  • Object Number: 2019.456.3
  • Curatorial Department: The American Wing

More Artwork

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Kahkewāquonāby or Reverend Peter Jones, Hill and Adamson British, Scottish, Salted paper print from paper negative
Kahkewāquonāby or Reverend Peter Jones
Photography Studio Hill and Adamson
David Octavius Hill
Robert Adamson
1845
Bowl, Maple, Anishinaabe, probably Ottawa, Native American
Bowl
Anishinaabe, probably Ottawa, Native American
ca. 1800
Blanket strip, Tanned leather, glass beads, horsehair, porcupine quills, dye, wool cloth, and brass bells, Niimíipuu / Nez Perce , Native American
Blanket strip
Niimíipuu / Nez Perce , Native American
ca. 1850
Sash, Wool yarn and glass beads, Western Great Lakes, Native American
Sash
Western Great Lakes, Native American
ca. 1800
Shoulder bag, Tanned leather, porcupine quills, dye, metal cones, deer hair, vegetal fiber, and wool yarn, Anishinaabe, probably Ojibwa, Native American
Shoulder bag
Anishinaabe, probably Ojibwa, Native American
ca. 1780

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