Ojibwe, Great Lakes region
Circa 1860
Glass beads, trade cloth, velvet, cotton
Height 37 1/2" (95.3 cm) Width 8 3/4" (22.2 cm)
Provenance: Provincial English Auction; correspondence from the British Museum included
This child's bandolier bag is among the smaller and less commonly encountered formats in Great Lakes beadwork, produced not for utility but as a prestige object worn diagonally across the shoulder for ceremonial and social occasions. The design is executed in glass seed beads on trade cloth, with a floral composition characteristic of Ojibwe decorative sensibility in the mid nineteenth century. The pouch, strap, and tab work together as a unified composition of considerable density and care.
Bandolier bags of this scale and quality reflect the high regard in which beadwork was held within Great Lakes communities, where the production of such objects by women was a mark of skill, status, and cultural continuity. The correspondence from the British Museum included with the piece adds an unusual layer of institutional documentation to an already well provenanced example. This is a well preserved and visually compelling child's bag from a period when Great Lakes beadwork was at the height of its development.
We ship free anywhere in the world, fully insured, packed by hand.
Ojibwe, Great Lakes region
Circa 1860
Glass beads, trade cloth, velvet, cotton
Height 37 1/2" (95.3 cm) Width 8 3/4" (22.2 cm)
Provenance: Provincial English Auction; correspondence from the British Museum included
This child's bandolier bag is among the smaller and less commonly encountered formats in Great Lakes beadwork, produced not for utility but as a prestige object worn diagonally across the shoulder for ceremonial and social occasions. The design is executed in glass seed beads on trade cloth, with a floral composition characteristic of Ojibwe decorative sensibility in the mid nineteenth century. The pouch, strap, and tab work together as a unified composition of considerable density and care.
Bandolier bags of this scale and quality reflect the high regard in which beadwork was held within Great Lakes communities, where the production of such objects by women was a mark of skill, status, and cultural continuity. The correspondence from the British Museum included with the piece adds an unusual layer of institutional documentation to an already well provenanced example. This is a well preserved and visually compelling child's bag from a period when Great Lakes beadwork was at the height of its development.
We ship free anywhere in the world, fully insured, packed by hand.
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