Ute Beaded Tobacco Bag with Long Fringe

Ute, Southern Rocky Mountain region

1870s

Hide with glass bead decoration and fringe

Length 17 in. (43.2 cm)

Provenance: Private collection, Texas

Ute tobacco bags of this type were personal objects worn or carried by men, used to hold tobacco and smoking materials and often among the more carefully made items in an individual's possession. This example has a rolled and beaded top with rectangular flap, a fully beaded panel in white and navy featuring bold geometric forms, and a long fringe terminating in two spoon shaped drops, an unusual detail that distinguishes this piece from more standard fringe treatments. The beadwork is executed in white and deep blue with accent colors at the collar, in a direct and graphic compositional style consistent with Southern Ute work of the third quarter of the nineteenth century.

Tobacco bags with intact fringe and original beadwork of this quality from the 1870s are increasingly difficult to find outside of institutional collections. The spoon drop fringe terminations suggest a maker with strong individual design sensibility working within a recognized tradition. The Texas private collection provenance places the object within a longstanding regional collecting context with deep ties to Plains and Rocky Mountain material.

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