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Moccasin
Moccasin

Moccasin

Datec. 1838
DimensionsOverall: 3 1/2 × 3 1/2 × 9 3/4 in. (8.9 × 8.9 × 24.8 cm)
Object numberT0038a-b
Credit LineGift of Eugene V. and Clare E. Thaw
Photograph by John Bigelow Taylor, NYC
Label TextWendat moccasins were especially prized because of their exceptional moosehair embroidery. French Ursuline nuns introduced embroidery arts and Renaissance floral design traditions to Wendat women and girls in Quebec. The production of items with intricate floral imagery in moosehair embroidery flourished and was widely sought after by residents and tourists alike.
Exhibition History"The 45th Annual Winter Antique Show," New York, NY, January 12, 1999 – January 25, 1999.

"Art of the American Indian: The Thaw Collection," The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH, March 2, 2010 - May 30, 2010; Minneapolis Museum of Art, Minneapolis, MN, October 24, 2010 - January 9, 2011; Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas, TX, April 24, 2011 - September 23, 2011; Indianapolis Museum of Art, Indianapolis, IN, December 4, 2011 - February 12, 2012.

"Hearts of Our People," Minneapolis Institute of Art, Minneapolis, MI May 26, 2019 - August 18, 2019; 216 Frist Center for Visual Art, Nashville, TN, September 29, 2019 - January 12, 2020; 217 Renwick Gallery of the Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC, February 23, 2020 - May 17, 2020 (extended to August 2, 2020); 218 Philbrook Museum of Art, Tulsa, OK, June 28, 2020 - September 20, 2020 (extended to October 27 2020 - January 3, 2021).
ProvenancePossibly acquired in 1838 or later by Lady Mary Louisa Lambton, wife of James Bruce, the 8th Earl of Elgin and the 12th Earl of Kincardine, governor-general of Canada, during his residency 1847-1854; descended in the Elgin family to the 11th Earl of Elgin and the 15th Earl of Kincardine, Dunfermline, Scotland
BibliographyVincent, Gilbert et al. Art of the North American Indians: The Thaw Collection. Cooperstown, New York: Fenimore Art Museum, 2000, p.60.

Phillips, Ruth B. "Like a Star I Shine: Northern Woodlands Artistic Traditions." In The Spirit Sings: Artistic Traditions of Canada's First Peoples, A Catalogue of the Exhibition, edited by Julia Harrison, 51-92. Calgary: Glenbow Museum, 1987, p. 52, W69.

Phillips, Ruth B. Trading Identities: The Souvenir in Native North American Art from the Northeast, 1700-1900. Seattle: Washington University Press, 1998, pl. 24.

Fognell, Eva, ed. Art of the American Indians: The Thaw Collection. Cooperstown, NY: Fenimore Art Museum, 2010, p. 51.

de Stecher, Annette. Engaged Histories: Wendat Women's Souvenir Arts of Cultural Preservation and Entrepreneurial Invention. Ph. D. dissertation in cultural mediations. Carleton University, 2013, p. 226, fig. 66.

Berlo, Janet, and Ruth Phillips. Native American Art. 2nd ed. New York: Oxford University Press, 2015. First edition 1998, p. 119, fig. 3.28.

Murdock, Michelle, ed. 50 at 20: Masterpieces of American Indian Art from the Thaw Collection. Cooperstown, NY: Fenimore Art Museum, 2015, p. 11.

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. 44.
On View
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5798 STATE HIGHWAY 80
COOPERSTOWN NY, 13326
607-547-1400

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