Museum Expedition 1903, Museum Collection Fund

Museum Expedition 1903, Museum Collection Fund

Ella C. Woodward Memorial Fund

Museum Expedition 1903, Museum Collection Fund

A. Augustus Healy Fund

The object is a bag made of hide and decorated with woven glass beads. One side depicts diamond forms, 4 sturgeons, 2 condors and 2 men. The other side depicts 3 men, 4 horses and two condors. The bottom f the bag has four tabs with tassels of strung beads and shells. Along the top edge of the bag are two lines of blue beads and two dressed hide loop handles. Condition: It is in fair and stable condition. Several areas of beads are missing and the left side join area needs stabilizing. Conservation report on file.

Museum Expedition 1905, Museum Collection Fund

This carpet is most likely a prayer rug used in church that belonged to an elite woman in Spanish colonial Peru. Its design features a man and woman attended by an enslaved black figure. The woman dons upper-class European attire, a social signifier embraced by wealthy Creoles (American-born Spaniards) to underscore their socio-racial and cultural ties to the Old World. Despite their unprecedented purchasing power, Creoles lacked political equity. The resulting tension paved the way for the many wars of independence from Spain in the nineteenth century.

Bequest of Mrs. Carl L. Selden

Gift of Alastair B. Martin