Ojibwe, Great Lakes region
Circa 1860
Glass beads, trade cloth
Height 41" (104.1 cm) Width 12 1/4" (31.1 cm)
Provenance: Wisconsin Trade
This Ojibwe bandolier bag combines geometric patterning on the strap with a central pouch panel featuring floral and botanical motifs, a pairing that reflects the breadth of the Great Lakes beadwork vocabulary in the mid nineteenth century. The strap is worked in repeating angular forms in multiple colors, while the pouch carries a more naturalistic composition of flowers and leaves rendered in spot stitching on a dark ground. The overall effect is layered and compositionally varied, with each section of the bag treated as a distinct design field.
Bandolier bags of this period were prestige objects produced by women and worn ceremonially to complete outfits for social and community gatherings, where the quality of the beadwork communicated skill and standing. The Wisconsin Trade provenance places this bag within the active commercial and cultural exchange networks of the upper Great Lakes, where such objects moved between indigenous communities and collectors from an early date. It is a well preserved example of the form at a moment when both geometric and floral traditions were being practiced with equal confidence.
We ship free anywhere in the world, fully insured, packed by hand.
Ojibwe, Great Lakes region
Circa 1860
Glass beads, trade cloth
Height 41" (104.1 cm) Width 12 1/4" (31.1 cm)
Provenance: Wisconsin Trade
This Ojibwe bandolier bag combines geometric patterning on the strap with a central pouch panel featuring floral and botanical motifs, a pairing that reflects the breadth of the Great Lakes beadwork vocabulary in the mid nineteenth century. The strap is worked in repeating angular forms in multiple colors, while the pouch carries a more naturalistic composition of flowers and leaves rendered in spot stitching on a dark ground. The overall effect is layered and compositionally varied, with each section of the bag treated as a distinct design field.
Bandolier bags of this period were prestige objects produced by women and worn ceremonially to complete outfits for social and community gatherings, where the quality of the beadwork communicated skill and standing. The Wisconsin Trade provenance places this bag within the active commercial and cultural exchange networks of the upper Great Lakes, where such objects moved between indigenous communities and collectors from an early date. It is a well preserved example of the form at a moment when both geometric and floral traditions were being practiced with equal confidence.
We ship free anywhere in the world, fully insured, packed by hand.
