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Tray

Date1847-1854
DimensionsOverall: 1 3/4 × 12 × 15 1/2 in. (4.4 × 30.5 × 39.4 cm)
Object numberT0283
Credit LineGift of Eugene V. and Clare E. Thaw
Photograph by Richard Walker
Label TextWendat (Huron) women and French Ursuline nuns used moosehair to embroider highly refined floral compositions such as this one. Moosehair was a local resource that was readily available while European silk embroidery thread was not. It was a practiced skill as embroiderers often used moosehair not exceeding two or three inches in length. The women also embroidered narrative scenes of Indians, their encampments, and wildlife such as birds and foxes.
Exhibition History"Art Des Indiens D'Amerique Du Nord Dans La Collection D'Eugene Thaw," Mona Bismarck Foundation, Paris, France, Somogy Editions D'Art, January 21, 2000 - March 18, 2000.
ProvenanceBelieved to have been given as a presentation piece to James Bruce, the 8th Earl of Elgin and 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.61.

Canada House Cultural Centre Gallery. Mohawk Micmac Maliseet...and other Indian Souvenir Art from Victorian Canada. London: Canada House Cultural Centre Gallery, 1985, p.14.

Phillips, Ruth B. Trading Identities: The Souvenir in Native North American Art from the Northeast, 1700-1900. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1998, p. 296.

Perriot Francoise, and Slim Batteux, trans. Arts des Indiens d'Amerique du Nord: Dans la Collection d'Eugene et Clare Thaw. Paris: Somogy editions d'Art, 1999, p. 18, fig. 3.

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. 314, figs. 77 and 123.

de Stecher, Annette. "Integrated Practices: Huron-Wendat Traditions of Diplomacy and Museology." The Journal of Curatorial Studies 3, no. 1 (February 2014): 50-73, p. 50 and 55.

Fognell, Eva and Alexander Brier Marr, eds. Art of the North American Indians: The Thaw Collection at the Fenimore Art Museun, 2nd ed. Cooperstown, New York: Fenimore Art Museum, 2016, p. 43.
On View
On view
Box
Wendat (Huron)
1847-1854
Moccasins
Slavey
c. 1980
Sash
Wendat (Huron) or Haudenosaunee (Iroquois)
c. 1816
Bag
Anishinaabe (Ojibwa)
c. 1900
Pouch Panel
Wendat (Huron)
c. 1777
Bowl and Game Pieces
Anishinaabe (Ojibwa)
c. 1880
Knife Sheath
Wendat (Huron)
c. 1830
Miniature Settee
Wendat (Huron)
c. 1830
Single Horse Tille
Homer Benedict
1999
Tray
Salena Jackson
c. 1900
Coat
Potawatomi
c. 1880
Mask
Kwakwaka'wakw (Kwakiutl)
1850-1870

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

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