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Bag

Datec. 1880
DimensionsOverall: 33 × 5 1/2 in. (83.8 × 14 cm)
Object numberT0075
Credit LineGift of Eugene V. and Clare E. Thaw
Photograph by John Bigelow Taylor, NYC
Label TextAt formal social functions and ceremonies Plains Indian men carried this type of bag to hold both tobacco and pipe. (c.f. Hail 1980, fig.245; Herbst and Kopp 1993, figs. 39 & 41; Mallery 1893, pl.XXVI) The designs decorating these bags, though consisting of conventional elements, appear to have had symbolic value, at least to the owner of the bag. The American flag was adopted by the Western Sioux as a symbol of courage; the two elongated diamond figures above the beadwork panel represents feathers, indicating that the owner's war exploits entitled him to wear eagle feathers. The two sides of these bags are always different in their decoration. Pipe bags with triangular tabs at the bottom identified the owner as a band chief; drawings made by Sioux Indians show such tabbed bags as a symbol of political authority. (From the Catalog of the Thaw Collection of American Indian Art, 2nd ed.)


Exhibition HistoryMuseum of Our National Heritage, Lexington, MA, December 6, 1994 - May 2, 1995.

"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.
ProvenanceJames Waste, California; Butterfield & Butterfield, San Francisco, California; Morning Star Gallery, Santa Fe, New Mexico
BibliographyButterfield & Butterfield. March 18, 1988, lot 4510.

Herbst, Toby, and Joel Kopp. The Flag in American Indian Art. Cooperstown, NY: New York State Historical Association, 1993, p. 54, pl. 37.

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. 63, fig. 48.

Vincent, Gilbert et al. Art of the North American Indians: The Thaw Collection. Cooperstown, New York: Fenimore Art Museum, 2000, p.144.

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. 143.
On View
Not on view
Cases
Kiowa
1860-1870
Bandolier Bag
Anishinaabe (Ojibwa)
c. 1890
Martingale
Apsaalooke (Crow)
c. 1885
Bandolier Bag
Anishinaabe (Ojibwa)
c. 1870
Bag
Tsitsistas/Suhtai (Cheyenne)
1885-1890
Bag
Anishinaabe (Red River Ojibwa)
c. 1790
Bandolier Bag
Anishinaabe (Ojibwa)
c. 1860
Shirt
Lakota (Teton Sioux)
c. 1890
Pouch
Metis-Lakota (Teton Sioux)
c. 1850
Pouch
Cheyenne or Arapaho
c. 1845
Leggings
Lakota (Teton Sioux)
c. 1890
Belt
Manitoba Ojibwa
c. 1800

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

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