Jacket

Datec. 1800

MediumMoose hide, glass beads, paint, porcupine quills, brass button

DimensionsOverall: 24 × 29 in. (61 × 73.7 cm)

Object numberT0046

Credit LineGift of Eugene V. and Clare E. Thaw

Photograph by John Bigelow Taylor, NYC

Label TextThe jacket combines red, yellow and blue painted geometric designs defined by parallel lines pressed into the skin and shoulder decorations of antique beads both woven and as bead-strung fringes. (c.f. Painter 1993, fig.213A; Krickeberg 1954, pl.17-a; Brasser 1976, p.54 & p.98). The restriction to the same colors in the painting and beadwork is certainly no coincidence, as the jacket was made from a longer coat that was cut down. Extra pieces of the lower portion were utilized for pockets, collar, and cuffs. Long coats of this type were made by the Cree peoples in Manitoba in the period of 1780-1820, though fur trade records mention them for the Cree as early as 1743. Their decoration is similar to this jacket with a T-shaped column of geometric designs painted on the back, geometric painting along the front opening and along the lower rim of the long coat and loom-woven quillwork or beadwork on the shoulders. The painting was done by means of sticks dipped in a mixture of pigment and grease. Long coats of this type were used in wintertime, worn over a coat of blanket material. Instead of buttons, a belt held the garment together. (From the Catalog of the Thaw Collection of American Indian Art, 2nd ed.)
ProvenancePrivate collection, Scotland; Taylor A. Dale, Santa Fe, New Mexico
BibliographyVincent, Gilbert et al. Art of the North American Indians: The Thaw Collection. Cooperstown, New York: Fenimore Art Museum, 2000, p.98.

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. 106.

On View

On view