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Plateau Mountain Sheep Hide Dress, Beaded
Plateau, possibly Nez Perce / Yakama region
Circa 1850 to 1860
Native tanned mountain sheep hide, pony beads, hemp sewn
Height 43" (109.2 cm); width 54" (137.2 cm); with custom wall mount
Provenance: Santa Fe trade; private collection, Santa Fe, New Mexico; Michael Kokin, Spirit of America, Volume 3:6; Dr. Robert Pamplin Jr., Oregon
This Plateau dress, possibly from the Nez Perce / Yakama region, dates to the mid-19th century and is constructed in a two-piece form from native tanned mountain sheep hide. The yoke is decorated with hemp sewn pony beads arranged in wide contoured lanes, with red bands flanked by black lines set against a white ground. Below the yoke, suspended thongs accented with oval beads and an attached deer tail with clipped hair preserve features associated with early Plateau dress forms.
Garments of this type combined skilled hide tailoring with a visual language that carried social and cultural meaning within Plateau communities. The use of mountain sheep hide and early pony beadwork places the dress within a mid-19th century period of Plateau material culture before the widespread transition to glass seed beads that characterized later production. A related dress collected in 1846 is held in the Nez Perce National Historical Park Museum in Spalding, Idaho, supporting the identification of this form and period within the documented corpus of early Plateau women's dress.
The provenance connects this dress to the Santa Fe trade and to two named collections, including that of Dr. Robert Pamplin Jr. of Oregon and a publication reference in Michael Kokin's Spirit of America. The Santa Fe trade context places the dress within the network through which much significant Plateau and Plains material entered private collections during the late 20th century. The combination of early pony beadwork, mountain sheep hide construction, published reference, and documented collection history gives this dress a well supported position within the corpus of mid-19th century Plateau women's garments.
We ship free anywhere in the world, fully insured, packed by hand.
Plateau, possibly Nez Perce / Yakama region
Circa 1850 to 1860
Native tanned mountain sheep hide, pony beads, hemp sewn
Height 43" (109.2 cm); width 54" (137.2 cm); with custom wall mount
Provenance: Santa Fe trade; private collection, Santa Fe, New Mexico; Michael Kokin, Spirit of America, Volume 3:6; Dr. Robert Pamplin Jr., Oregon
This Plateau dress, possibly from the Nez Perce / Yakama region, dates to the mid-19th century and is constructed in a two-piece form from native tanned mountain sheep hide. The yoke is decorated with hemp sewn pony beads arranged in wide contoured lanes, with red bands flanked by black lines set against a white ground. Below the yoke, suspended thongs accented with oval beads and an attached deer tail with clipped hair preserve features associated with early Plateau dress forms.
Garments of this type combined skilled hide tailoring with a visual language that carried social and cultural meaning within Plateau communities. The use of mountain sheep hide and early pony beadwork places the dress within a mid-19th century period of Plateau material culture before the widespread transition to glass seed beads that characterized later production. A related dress collected in 1846 is held in the Nez Perce National Historical Park Museum in Spalding, Idaho, supporting the identification of this form and period within the documented corpus of early Plateau women's dress.
The provenance connects this dress to the Santa Fe trade and to two named collections, including that of Dr. Robert Pamplin Jr. of Oregon and a publication reference in Michael Kokin's Spirit of America. The Santa Fe trade context places the dress within the network through which much significant Plateau and Plains material entered private collections during the late 20th century. The combination of early pony beadwork, mountain sheep hide construction, published reference, and documented collection history gives this dress a well supported position within the corpus of mid-19th century Plateau women's garments.
We ship free anywhere in the world, fully insured, packed by hand.