Detail View: The AMICA Library: Beaded Pouch

AMICA ID: 
BCM_.36.1.12
AMICA Library Year: 
2003
Object Type: 
Decorative Arts and Utilitarian Objects
Description: 
Flat, leather bag entirely covered with square weave bead work using a spiral weft, and thus having no seam; beadwork design consisting of four horizontal registers of standing man, standing woman and horse motifs done with blue and red beads on one side and green and black beads on the other, both having a white background; mouth edged with black beads; drawstring is thin leather thong ending in tab with black beaded edge; another, similar thong evidently broken off; looped, beadwork fringe of yellow beads at bottom.
Creator Nationality: 
Native American
Creator Name-CRT: 
Kiowa Apache, Oklahoma
Title: 
Beaded Pouch
View: 
Full view
Creation Date: 
1930s
Creation Start Date: 
1930
Creation End Date: 
1936
Materials and Techniques: 
Leather, beads (glass), thread (cotton)
Classification Term: 
Container
Classification Term: 
Beadwork
Creation Place: 
Oklahoma, United States
Dimensions: 
Length: 6"; width: 3 5/8"
AMICA Contributor: 
Brooklyn Children's Museum
Owner Location: 
Brooklyn, New York, USA
ID Number: 
36.1.12
Credit Line: 
Gift of Mrs. Frederic B. Pratt, 1936
Rights: 
Context: 
In the absence of pockets, small bags were fastened to belts for strike-a-light equipment, food ration tickets, daily necessities. Tanned deerskin, rectangular drawstring (through slits in skin), glass seed bead purses with geometric and floral designs were common as women's purses from 1890-present. Small bags were part of powwow dancing costumes. In the earliest bags only the design was beaded, not the background.

This piece was produced for the curio trade. The use of the standing man motif is a direct response to white demand and is not traditional. These motifs, because of their popularity, were used by many North American Indian groups involved in the curio industry, so determining provenance is tricky. The color scheme, plus the fact that the shape corresponds to Plains Indian tinder and strike-a-light bags suggests a Plains Indian reservation origin. Whites favored bead fringing in the 1920s.
Related Image Identifier Link: 
BCM_.36-1-12.tif