Hunkpapa Sioux Moccasins, Abstract Buffalo Designs

$5,500.00

Teton Hunkpapa Sioux

Northern Plains

Circa 1870

Buffalo hide, sinew, glass beads, hard sole

Length 10 1/4" (26 cm)

Provenance: Rich Johnson, Williamsport, PA; collected at Fort Peck, 1882

The vamp of each moccasin is covered in dense beadwork, a light turquoise border encircling the toe and framing a tan and olive central field worked with abstract buffalo designs in dark blue, white, red, and yellow geometric forms. The central motif reads as an abstracted cross or hourglass repeated across the vamp surface, the hard angles and color shifts characteristic of Sioux geometric beadwork traditions. A narrow strip of red and blue beadwork runs along the tongue, and the cuffs are left unbeaded with hide lacing threaded through the top.

The moccasins are constructed of buffalo hide with sinew stitching and a hard sole, the hide darkened and worn to a deep grayish tan consistent with a decade of wear noted at collection. They were collected at Fort Peck in 1882, placing them at the confluence of Sioux communities on the upper Missouri during a period of significant historical pressure and cultural production. The beadwork remains intact with consistent wear overall, and the structure of both moccasins is sound.

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

Teton Hunkpapa Sioux

Northern Plains

Circa 1870

Buffalo hide, sinew, glass beads, hard sole

Length 10 1/4" (26 cm)

Provenance: Rich Johnson, Williamsport, PA; collected at Fort Peck, 1882

The vamp of each moccasin is covered in dense beadwork, a light turquoise border encircling the toe and framing a tan and olive central field worked with abstract buffalo designs in dark blue, white, red, and yellow geometric forms. The central motif reads as an abstracted cross or hourglass repeated across the vamp surface, the hard angles and color shifts characteristic of Sioux geometric beadwork traditions. A narrow strip of red and blue beadwork runs along the tongue, and the cuffs are left unbeaded with hide lacing threaded through the top.

The moccasins are constructed of buffalo hide with sinew stitching and a hard sole, the hide darkened and worn to a deep grayish tan consistent with a decade of wear noted at collection. They were collected at Fort Peck in 1882, placing them at the confluence of Sioux communities on the upper Missouri during a period of significant historical pressure and cultural production. The beadwork remains intact with consistent wear overall, and the structure of both moccasins is sound.

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