Cheyenne Beaded Antelope Hide Moccasins, Flag Motif

$2,200.00

Cheyenne, southern Plains

1890

Antelope hide, glass beads, sinew

Length 10 1/2" (26.7 cm)

Provenance: Frank Hill; Sotheby's, New York, with tag

Cheyenne beadwork of the reservation era incorporated American flag imagery as one of the most visible outside symbols to appear in indigenous decorative production, reflecting the complex cultural negotiations of the post-reservation period. The flag motif on Cheyenne moccasins has been understood as simultaneously an assertion of political awareness, a creative recontextualization of a dominant cultural symbol, and a response to outside collector interest in patriotic imagery. Antelope hide construction, softer than buffalo hide, was favored for finer dress footwear across the southern Plains.

This pair is beaded across the vamp on antelope hide with American flag motifs and geometric border elements in polychrome beadwork on a light blue ground in red, white, dark blue, and green, sinew-sewn throughout with a soft hide upper. The Sotheby's New York tag provides a documented auction provenance, and the piece traces further to Frank Hill. Provenance traces to Sotheby's New York and prior to that Frank Hill.

We ship free anywhere in the world, fully insured, packed by hand.

Cheyenne, southern Plains

1890

Antelope hide, glass beads, sinew

Length 10 1/2" (26.7 cm)

Provenance: Frank Hill; Sotheby's, New York, with tag

Cheyenne beadwork of the reservation era incorporated American flag imagery as one of the most visible outside symbols to appear in indigenous decorative production, reflecting the complex cultural negotiations of the post-reservation period. The flag motif on Cheyenne moccasins has been understood as simultaneously an assertion of political awareness, a creative recontextualization of a dominant cultural symbol, and a response to outside collector interest in patriotic imagery. Antelope hide construction, softer than buffalo hide, was favored for finer dress footwear across the southern Plains.

This pair is beaded across the vamp on antelope hide with American flag motifs and geometric border elements in polychrome beadwork on a light blue ground in red, white, dark blue, and green, sinew-sewn throughout with a soft hide upper. The Sotheby's New York tag provides a documented auction provenance, and the piece traces further to Frank Hill. Provenance traces to Sotheby's New York and prior to that Frank Hill.

We ship free anywhere in the world, fully insured, packed by hand.