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Case

Date1840-1850
DimensionsOverall: 11 × 14 in. (27.9 × 35.6 cm)
Object numberT0095
Credit LineLoan from the Eugene V. and Clare E. Thaw Charitable Trust
Photograph by John Bigelow Taylor, NYC
Label TextParfleches, leather cases made of hide in which everything from food to sacred medicine was kept, were ubiquitous among Western Indians. They were made in all shapes and sizes, rectangles, round tubes, and, as here, smaller fringed cases often meant to hold ritual material. Parfleches were usually painted by women with geometric and abstract designs. Heavily-fringed parfleches were prominently displayed as a part of equestrian finery at parades and pow-wows among Plateau people.
Exhibition History"Art of the American Indian: The Thaw Collection," The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH, March 2, 2010 - May 30, 2010; Minneapolis Museum of Art, Minneapolis, MN, October 24, 2010 - January 9, 2011; Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas, TX, April 24, 2011 - September 23, 2011; Indianapolis Museum of Art, Indianapolis, IN, December 4, 2011 - February 12, 2012.
ProvenanceAcquired from the wife of Chief John Harmelt, Nahahum Canyon, Washington, in 1902; Mrs. C. C. Ward, Wenatchee, Washington; Bill Hawn, Santa Fe, New Mexico; Kenneth Canfield, Santa Fe, New Mexico; Morning Star Gallery, 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.178.

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. 199.
On View
On view
Gun Case
Apsaalooke (Crow)
c. 1870-1875
Cases
Kiowa
1860-1870
Bag
Red River Metis
c. 1840
Tubular Parfleche
Apsaalooke (Crow)
c. 1890
Parfleche
Southern Plains
ca. 1830
Parfleche Case
Inunaina (Arapaho)
1850-1860
Parfleche for Matisse
G. Peter Jemison
1999
Breastplate
Shoshone
c. 1870
Bag
Northwestern Metis
c. 1870
Shaman's Figure
Tlingit
1850-1870
House Posts
Tlingit (Tongass)
1820-1840
Digging Stick Handle
Western Plateau region
Probably 18th century

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

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