Bandolier Bag

Bandolier Bag

about 1840
Culture
Uncertain: Muscogee | Creek
Object
bandolier, bag
Medium
cloth and glass beads
Accession Number
1954.201
Credit Line
Gift of Frederic H. Douglas

Muscogee (Creek) artist, Bandolier Bag, about 1840. Cloth and glass beads; 31 ½ x 9 ¼ x 8 5/8 in. Denver Art Museum: Gift of Frederic H. Douglas, 1954.201

Dimensions
length: 31.5 in, 80.0100 cm; width: 9.25 in, 23.4950 cm; height: 8.625 in, 21.9075 cm
Department
Native Arts
Collection
Indigenous Arts of North America
This object is currently on view
Elaborately beaded bags created by Cherokee, Creek, and Seminole artists reflect the high point of the beadworkers’ art. While the shape of these men’s shoulder bags was most likely inspired by those worn by British soldiers in the 1700s, their designs were strictly native. Complex floral and geometric motifs intertwine from the point of the flap to the curve of the neck strap. Less commonly, humans and animals were depicted. The meanings of these patterns are largely lost, but they surely conveyed important personal and cultural information for both the weaver and the observer.
Known Provenance
Collected by Frederic H. Douglas’s grandfather [b. 1803] probably around 1820. Frederic H. Douglas, Denver, CO, before 1954; Denver Art Museum, 1954.

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