Skip to main content
The Cree and Ojibwa quilled floral sprigs on the sides of canoe models up to the 1930s, but never better than this mid-19th century example. An earlier canoe model (c. 1760) without the pronounced prows seen here, but with sail and holding a family of five, still exists (cf. Phillips 1987, p. 54, W77). The high prowed type later became the western Great Lakes long-nosed canoe; while the low-prowed canoe type became the Wabanaki Chimen canoe of the Eastern Great Lakes. Mary Kooyik, presumably the maker of this canoe, wrote the Native rendition of her name on the bottom: Mani Kueyik. (From the Catalog of the Thaw Collection of American Indian Art, 2nd ed.)
Exhibition History"The 45th Annual Winter Antique Show," New York, NY, January 12, 1999 – January 25, 1999.
ProvenanceBelieved to have been given as a presentation piece to James Bruce, the 8th Earl of Elgin and 12th Earl of Kincardine, governor-general of Canada, during his residency 1847-1853; descended in the Elgin family to the 11th Earl of Elgin and the 15th Earl of Kincardine, Dunfermline, Scotland
BibliographyPhillips, Ruth B. Trading Identities: The Souvenir in Native North American Art from the Northeast, 1700-1900. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1998, p.298, endnote 63.
Vincent, Gilbert et al. Art of the North American Indians: The Thaw Collection. Cooperstown, New York: Fenimore Art Museum, 2000, p.68.
Phillips, Ruth B. "Quilled Bark from the Central Great Lakes: A Transcultural History." In Studies in American Indian Art: A Memorial Tribute to Norman Feder. Austria/Seattle: Adolf Holzhausens Nachfolger/ University of Washington Press, 2000, pp.122-123 [general reference to ex-Elgin Great Lakes quilled birchbark pieces].
Phillips, Ruth B. Trading Identities: The Souvenir in Native North American Art from the Northeast, 1700-1900. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1998, p. 6, fig. 1.
Low, John N. "Vessels for Recollection - The Canoe Building Renaissance in the Great Lakes." Material Culture: The Journal of the International Society for Landscape, Place, & Material Culture 47, no. 1 (Spring 2015), p. 6. fig. 1.
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. 74.
Attributed to
Mary Kooyik (Mani Kueyik)
(Anishinaabe (eastern Ojibwa))
Canoe Model
Date1847-1854
DimensionsOverall: 3 1/2 × 3 1/2 × 14 1/2 in. (8.9 × 8.9 × 36.8 cm)
Object numberT0023a-e
Credit LineGift of Eugene V. and Clare E. Thaw
Photograph by John Bigelow Taylor, NYC
Label TextCanoe models were among the most popular souvenirs; examples are known from a number of native communities in the eastern parts of Canada. One of the earliest example was made by Assiginack, an Odawa man (Taylor 1986; cf. Phillips 1998, pl. 9; Corbiere 2012). The distinct style of quill barkware from the Georgian Bay area is not always recognized and much of this work is incorrectly attributed to the Mi'kmaq and Maliseet of the Maritimes. This small but exceptional quilled birchbark canoe model is one of the finer ones of its type and among the best preserved. (c.f. fig. XX T260; Sotheby's 1994, lot 375; Graham 1983, p. 33, fig. 16 and 17). It represents a hunter's rather small canoe manned by one person. Here the paddler is superbly poised, and coasting with paddle held horizontally. In addition to the figure, the maker included a birchbark bedroll, a water drum, and drum beater. The Cree and Ojibwa quilled floral sprigs on the sides of canoe models up to the 1930s, but never better than this mid-19th century example. An earlier canoe model (c. 1760) without the pronounced prows seen here, but with sail and holding a family of five, still exists (cf. Phillips 1987, p. 54, W77). The high prowed type later became the western Great Lakes long-nosed canoe; while the low-prowed canoe type became the Wabanaki Chimen canoe of the Eastern Great Lakes. Mary Kooyik, presumably the maker of this canoe, wrote the Native rendition of her name on the bottom: Mani Kueyik. (From the Catalog of the Thaw Collection of American Indian Art, 2nd ed.)
Exhibition History"The 45th Annual Winter Antique Show," New York, NY, January 12, 1999 – January 25, 1999.
ProvenanceBelieved to have been given as a presentation piece to James Bruce, the 8th Earl of Elgin and 12th Earl of Kincardine, governor-general of Canada, during his residency 1847-1853; descended in the Elgin family to the 11th Earl of Elgin and the 15th Earl of Kincardine, Dunfermline, Scotland
BibliographyPhillips, Ruth B. Trading Identities: The Souvenir in Native North American Art from the Northeast, 1700-1900. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1998, p.298, endnote 63.
Vincent, Gilbert et al. Art of the North American Indians: The Thaw Collection. Cooperstown, New York: Fenimore Art Museum, 2000, p.68.
Phillips, Ruth B. "Quilled Bark from the Central Great Lakes: A Transcultural History." In Studies in American Indian Art: A Memorial Tribute to Norman Feder. Austria/Seattle: Adolf Holzhausens Nachfolger/ University of Washington Press, 2000, pp.122-123 [general reference to ex-Elgin Great Lakes quilled birchbark pieces].
Phillips, Ruth B. Trading Identities: The Souvenir in Native North American Art from the Northeast, 1700-1900. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1998, p. 6, fig. 1.
Low, John N. "Vessels for Recollection - The Canoe Building Renaissance in the Great Lakes." Material Culture: The Journal of the International Society for Landscape, Place, & Material Culture 47, no. 1 (Spring 2015), p. 6. fig. 1.
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. 74.
On View
Not on view1450-1550
