Pair of Puckered Moccasins Item Number: 50.67.20a-b from the Brooklyn Museum
Description
The mocassins are constructed with smoked buckskin that is gathered into a series of small folds or "puckers" by seams running from the area above the toes to the area below the ankle. The seams are decorated by quillwork made up of orange lines and centered white and dark purple triangles crossed by a series of four additional linear designs. The seams of the heel are decorated in simple configured quillwork bands of white, light blue, and dark purple crosses. Cuffs are added onto the mocassins as separate semi-circular pieces of deerskin with quilled borders containing an undulating dark purple band and several straight lines. Metal cones, stuffed with dyed red deer hair are suspended from the edges of the cuffs.
Label
The Jarvis Collection of Native American Plains Art
The articles in this case and the adjacent clothing case are some of the earliest and finest Eastern Plains pieces in existence. They were collected by Dr. Nathan Sturges Jarvis, a military surgeon stationed at Fort Snelling, Minnesota, between 1833 and 1836. He purchased some of the objects, while some may have been given in exchange for his medical services. These works display indigenous people’s ingenuity in combining trade materials such as cloth, metal, and glass beads with traditional hides, red pipestone, and porcupine and bird quills.
Credit Line
Henry L. Batterman Fund and Frank Sherman Benson Fund
Item History
- Made between 1800 and 1825
What
- Name
- Pair of Puckered Moccasins
- Identification Number
- 50.67.20a-b
- Type of Item
- moccasin and pair
- Material
- smoked buckskin, deer skin, deer hair, porcupine quill and copper metal
- Overall
- length 4.0 in, width 11.0 in
Where
- Holding Institution
- Brooklyn Museum
When
- Creation Date
- between 1800 and 1825
Other
- Location
- American Identities: A New Look, American Art Galleries, 5th Floor, Visions and Myths of a Nation, 1800–1890, 5th Floor
- Classification
- Clothing