Traditional Nez Perce culture places a great value on horses, and both horses and riders wear their finest trappings during parades held at annual encampments and celebrations. This beaded collar is meant to hang from a horse's neck. The beadwork is sewn onto the red wool cloth with an overlay stitch that alternates between horizontal and vertical orientation in the various design areas. The geometric design emphasizes elongated triangles and diamonds in colors of predominantly the same value. The subtle color shift in the blue background is unusual and provides an added feeling of dimension.

The Elizabeth Cole Butler Collection.

The Elizabeth Cole Butler Collection.

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.

The Elizabeth Cole Butler Collection.

The Elizabeth Cole Butler Collection.

The Elizabeth Cole Butler Collection.

Traditional footwear for Plains Indian women is usually either boots or a combination of moccasins and leggings. Lakota women commonly wore the latter. The moccasins are characteristically made with a hard rawhide sole and a bifurcated tongue; these are often extensively decorated with lazy stitch beadwork in geometric designs on a white background. Leggings offered additional protection and a sense of modesty. In contrast to Lakota women, many Kiowa women traditionally wear knee-high boots, decorated with much less beadwork than the Lakota moccasins and employing a different approach to color. Kiowa beadwork commonly uses different beaded designs on each toe, and the boots are further ornamented by metal studs and by paint on the unbeaded surface.

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 Elizabeth Cole Butler Collection.