Spoon

Datec. 1870

MediumBuffalo horn, porcupine quills, cotton thread

DimensionsOverall: 6 1/2 × 2 in. (16.5 × 5.1 cm)

Object numberT0057

Credit LineGift of Eugene V. and Clare E. Thaw

Photograph by John Bigelow Taylor, NYC

Label TextSimple utilitarian spoons made of horn were common across the Plains. By means of boiling and steaming, horn was made pliable and soft enough to carve and bend its shape permanently. Often the handles were carved with animal heads among the Sioux tribes, representing a western extension of a Great Lakes art tradition. While wood was used in more eastern regions, Native peoples of the Plains carved bighorn sheep and buffalo horn. Often utilizing cow horn as a substitute, the Yanktonai at Fort Peck, Montana, specialized in the production of elegant, skillfully-made effigy spoons in the 1880s, usually wrapping the handles with plaited quillwork. (c.f. Conn 1979, fig.153; Ewers 1986, pl. 26, figs.172-175; Hall 1983, fig.11; Maurer 1993, fig.47; Penney 1992, fig. 211; Thompson 1977, fig.112) This particular spoon, however, is made of buffalo horn, suggesting a somewhat earlier date. Horse effigies such as on this example are surprisingly rare. Many of these spoons have elk or bird heads carved on the handle.(From the Catalog of the Thaw Collection of American Indian Art, 2nd ed.)
ProvenanceLarry Frank, Arroyo Hondo, New Mexico
BibliographyVincent, Gilbert et al. Art of the North American Indians: The Thaw Collection. Cooperstown, New York: Fenimore Art Museum, 2000, p.111.

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. 119.

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