Tipi bag
This bag was made during the early reservation period (approximately 1850–90), when the United States government outlawed the Lakota's annual Sundance and instituted Fourth of July celebrations in its place. Depictions of the American flag and interpretations of the Great Seal of the United States were popularized as beadwork motifs and sometimes worn or displayed as visual cues and warnings. The artist, likely a woman, may have made the container as a special gift or for personal use. Women, who held important and culturally specific property roles, regularly transported belongings from one camp to the next and ornamented the interior of tipis and lodges.
Artwork Details
- Title: Tipi bag
- Date: ca. 1890
- Geography: Possibly made in North Dakota, United States; Possibly made in South Dakota, United States
- Culture: Lakota/ Teton Sioux, Native American
- Medium: Tanned leather, glass beads, metal cones, horsehair, and dye
- Dimensions: 14 × 19 1/2 in. (35.6 × 49.5 cm)
- Credit Line: The Charles and Valerie Diker Collection of Native American Art, Gift of Charles and Valerie Diker, 2019
- Object Number: 2019.456.8
- Curatorial Department: The American Wing
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