The Elizabeth Cole Butler Collection. Collected: Elizabeth Cole Butler

The Elizabeth Cole Butler Collection. Collected: Elizabeth Cole Butler

The Elizabeth Cole Butler Collection. Collected: Elizabeth Cole Butler

Gift in memory of Isaac M. Bates by his children and grandchildren.

After the introduction of horses, Plains Indian peoples became much more mobile. Horses allowed them to stay on the move, following the buffalo herds. By necessity, everything families owned had to be portable; they needed a variety of containers to pack belongings when the camp was moved. This pair of Lakota storage bags might have been mounted on saddle bags and would have held anything from clothing to food. They are made from tanned leather and decorated with porcupine quill embroidery across the front, with a beaded strip along each side and across the top flap. Tin cones and dyed horsehair further accent the beaded strips.

Plains Indian people traditionally used porcupine quills to decorate clothing and other items. As glass beads introduced by traders became more and more available, the use of porcupine quills gradually declined, though it never stopped completely.

The backboard for the cradle is missing, only the quilled ornaments remain. These consist of two large sections of smoked skin, which wrapped around the cradle and were decorated with orange, white, red, brown, light blue and yellow porcupine quills. The design may be called "otter tail” design as the fretwork moves from left to right as if the otter was doing this: jump-jump-slide-jump-jump. Another suggestion is that he "fret" design may be an abstract thunderbird. There are also two straps decorated with quill wrapped thongs, tin cones, and blue and white pony beads. The cradle model is exceptional in two respects. First it is a model and only 3 are known. (The other being in the NMAI and the Peabody Salem Essex). This suggests it was might have been made for sale as pieces that are missing perhaps were not made, or were lost after it was acquired. The cradle decorations are displayed on this mount condensed, as the piece would have been longer. The rectangular piece below might not be in correct location. B Hail, "Hau, Kola,” pg. 144, fig. 127, shows an early Dakota cradle with three of these rectangular forms dangling down from the bottom of the cradle board not from the wrappings.

Robert B. Woodward Memorial Fund