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Exhibition History"Art of This Land," National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, February 1, 2009 - April 1, 2011.
ProvenanceWellcome Collection of Art and Ethnology, Wellcome Historical Medical Museum, London, England; Private Collection, England; Sotheby's, London, England; Captain Bashford, Canada; Walter M. Banko, Montreal, Quebec, Canada; Jonathan Holstein, Cazenovia, New York
BibliographyVincent, Gilbert T. Masterpieces of American Indian Art. New York: Harry Abrams, 1995, p.28.
Sotheby's. (London) 2 December 1985, lot 2.
Vincent, Gilbert et al. Art of the North American Indians: The Thaw Collection. Cooperstown, New York: Fenimore Art Museum, 2000, p.99.
Brasser, Theodore. Native American Clothing: An Illustrated History. Buffalo, New York: Firefly Books, 2009. p. 100.
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. 107.
Culture
Manitoba Ojibwa
Belt
Datec. 1800
DimensionsOverall: 2 1/8 × 24 3/4 in. (5.4 × 62.9 cm)
Object numberT0044
Credit LineGift of Eugene V. and Clare E. Thaw
Photograph by John Bigelow Taylor, NYC
Label Text
This is a very beautiful example of the loom-woven quillwork produced about 1800 in the region of present-day Manitoba. (c.f. Brasser 1976, fig.76; Phillips 1984, fig.22; Sotheby's 1981, lot 23; Painter 1992, cat.no.121). Woven quillwork was formed on a bow-loom by inserting flattened quills between the warp threads and folding the quills over and under the weft thread. Typical for these belts are the use of early blue beads at the ends of the quillwork and the short wooden sticks sewn into the ends of the belt, presumably to prevent it from wrinkling. Two leather loops at one end fit around two enameled metal buttons of British origin in the neoclassical style. Although comparable quillwork appears to be of northern or western Ojibwa origin, confusion with similar quillwork decorating early shotpouches of the Cree in northern Manitoba has led to the mistaken assumption that all quillwork of this type was of northern Cree origin. The quillwork of this belt is red, blue (now faded), dark brown, and the off-white of the natural quills. Some of these antique belts have a backing of birchbark; in this case dark blue trade-cloth was used. (From the Catalog of the Thaw Collection of American Indian Art, 2nd ed.)Exhibition History"Art of This Land," National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, February 1, 2009 - April 1, 2011.
ProvenanceWellcome Collection of Art and Ethnology, Wellcome Historical Medical Museum, London, England; Private Collection, England; Sotheby's, London, England; Captain Bashford, Canada; Walter M. Banko, Montreal, Quebec, Canada; Jonathan Holstein, Cazenovia, New York
BibliographyVincent, Gilbert T. Masterpieces of American Indian Art. New York: Harry Abrams, 1995, p.28.
Sotheby's. (London) 2 December 1985, lot 2.
Vincent, Gilbert et al. Art of the North American Indians: The Thaw Collection. Cooperstown, New York: Fenimore Art Museum, 2000, p.99.
Brasser, Theodore. Native American Clothing: An Illustrated History. Buffalo, New York: Firefly Books, 2009. p. 100.
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. 107.
On View
On view
