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Roach Spreader
Roach Spreader
Possibly

Roach Spreader

Date1800-1850
DimensionsOverall: 3 × 5 3/4 in. (7.6 × 14.6 cm)
Object numberT0256
Credit LineGift of Eugene V. and Clare E. Thaw
Photograph by Richard Walker
Label TextRoach spreaders help to keep the porcupine and deer hairs of the roach flared out. A section of the warrior’s hair was pulled through an opening in both the roach and the roach spreader and tied to secure the headdress in place. The carved imagery on this roach spreader is a stylized image of a warrior’s shield. It is depicted as a circular shape with triangles representing the four directions. The five elongated forms near the bottom represent eagle feathers - traditional symbols of a warrior’s prowess.
Exhibition History"Arrows of the Spirit: North American Indian Adornment from Prehistoric to Present," Mingei International, San Diego, CA, August 27, 1999 - January 31, 2000.
ProvenanceExh. Mingei International Museum, San Diego, California, 1999-2000
BibliographyVincent, Gilbert et al. Art of the North American Indians: The Thaw Collection. Cooperstown, New York: Fenimore Art Museum, 2000, p.75.

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. 72.
On View
Not on view
Roach Spreader
Menomini
c. 1850
Roach and Roach Spreader
Mandan, Arikara, Hidatsa
c. 1900
Figure
1825-1850
Jacket
Lakota (Teton Sioux)
1890-1910
Drawing - Two Bear's War Record
Tsitsistas/Suhtai (Cheyenne)
c. 1870
Lightning Bolt Colt
Dyanne Strongbow
2000
Bowl
c. 1780
Spoon
Western Sioux type
c. 1890
Necklace
Apsaalooke (Crow)
1830-1860
Feast Bowl Fragment
Kwakwaka'wakw (Kwakiutl)
c. 1890
War Armour
Tlingit
c. 1750-1800
War Helmet
Tlingit
c. 1780-1840

5798 STATE HIGHWAY 80
COOPERSTOWN NY, 13326
607-547-1400

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