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Sash

Datec. 1830
DimensionsOverall: 3 × 56 1/4 in. (7.6 × 142.9 cm)
Object numberT0240
Credit LineGift of Eugene V. and Clare E. Thaw
Photograph by Richard Walker
Label TextChoctaw women emphasized their beadwork designs by using bright white beads against a dark blue cloth background. This contrast created a strong graphic element in their compositions. Curvilinear motifs, scrolls and sun symbols relating to cosmological beliefs dominate the designs worked on sashes. Such imagery can be traced back to ancient Mississippian cultures (1000-1600 A.D.). Choctaw men wore one or two sashes diagonally across their chests as an emblem of their high rank.
Exhibition History"Arrows of the Spirit: North American Indian Adornment from Prehistoric to Present," 2000. Mingei International, San Diego, CA, August 27, 1999 - January 31, 2000.
ProvenanceSaunders Collection, Washington, D.C.; Brandt Saunders, Charleston, South Carolina; Richard Pohrt, Jr., Flint, Michigan
BibliographyVincent, Gilbert et al. Art of the North American Indians: The Thaw Collection. Cooperstown, New York: Fenimore Art Museum, 2000, p.40.

Fognell, Eva and Alexander Brier Marr, eds. Art of the North American Indians: The Thaw Collection at the Fenimore Art Museum, 2nd ed. Cooperstown, New York: Fenimore Art Museum, 2016, p. 16.
On View
On view
Sash
Choctaw
c. 1800-1825
Sash
Wendat (Huron) or Haudenosaunee (Iroquois)
c. 1816
Sash
Hopi
c. 1900-1920
Sash
Wendat (Huron)
c. 1840
Shirt
Lakota (Teton Sioux)
c. 1890
Sash
Anishinaabe (Ojibwa)
c. 1780-1830
Bag
Mi'kmaq (Micmac)
c. 1840-1850
Wand
Pueblo
c. 1890
Bag
Anishinaabe (Ojibwa)
c. 1900
Belt
Penobscot
1875-1900
Dog blankets
ca. 1890
Dog blankets
ca. 1890

5798 STATE HIGHWAY 80
COOPERSTOWN NY, 13326
607-547-1400

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