FROM CARD: "[Formerly] ON EXHIBIT IN NHB HALL 9, IDENTIFIED THERE AS CENTRAL ALGONKIAN. LEDGER LISTS NO PEOPLE OR LOCALITY INFORMATION." Thunderbird design. Northwest Coast location/attribution on catalogue card is in error, if this is indeed Central Algonkian.

OVAL BIRCH BARK BOX WITH LID. RIM AND BASE REINFORCED WITH PLANT FIBERS STITCHED TO WALLS OF BOX WITH BLACK COTTON THREAD. PLANT FIBERS AND RED DYED PORCUPINE QUILLS STITCHED TO LID WITH BLACK COTTON THREAD. WALLS DECORATED WITH FLOWER DESIGN IN RED AND GREEN DYED QUILL WORK. LID DECORATED WITH TULIP DESIGN IN RED AND GREEN DYED QUILL WORK WITH EIGHT WHITE QUILL STITCHES ON EACH SIDE. ONE WHITE QUILL IS BROKEN. MADE IN CANADA TAG ATTACHED TO BOX BOTTOM. PURCHASED FROM IROQRAFTS, OHSWEKEN, SIX NATIONS RESERVE, ONTARIO, CANADA BY MS. E. BARRIE KAVASCH FOR SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION TRAVELING EXHIBITION SERVICE (SITES) NATIVE HARVESTS EXHIBIT IN 1979.

FROM CARD: "SECTION INCLUDING ALL LOWER RIGHT QUADRANT AND PART OF LEFT QUADRANT MISSING; HOWEVER DESIGN CAN BE DETERMINED WITH REASONABLE ACCURACY FROM EXISTING PIECE. LINEAR BORDER SURROUNDING OUTSIDE OF ALTERNATE RED AND SIZE MARKING PARALLEL LINES; EXTENSION INTO HEAD AREA OF PARALLEL LINES OF SIMILAR CHARACTER. LARGE CENTER AREA DIVIDED INTO QUADRANTS BY INTERSECTING BANDS OF RED LINES AND SIZE MARKINGS. WITHIN EACH QUADRANT IS COMPLEX MOTIVE CONSISTING OF A CIRCLE ('SUN SYMBOL'?) ELABORATED WITH DOUBLE CURVES; (EACH QUADRANT IS BILATERALLY SYMMETRICAL ON LONG AXIS). THE ENTIRE PAINTED DESIGN COULD ACCURATELY BE REPRODUCED IN A COLOR PAINTING FROM THE EXISTING FRAGMENT. THE PAINTED DESIGN MORE CLOSELY APPROXIMATES NASKAPI STYLE THAN PLAINS INDIAN PAINTING. PROBABLY FROM THE NORTHERN WOODLANDS - GREAT LAKES AREA - JOHN C. EWERS, JAN. 16, 1948." Artifact is illus. Fig. 2, p. 61 in "Ceremonial Robes of the Montagnais-Naskapi" by Alika Podolinsky Webber, American Indian Art Magazine, Vol. 9, No. 1, Winter 1983, and identified there as "Ceremonial robe fragment. Naskapi [Innu] ... Native tanned unsmoked caribou skin. 100.5 cm long, 63 cm wide. The large center area is divided into quadrants by intersecting bands of red lines and size markings. Within each quadrant is a complex motif consisting of a circle elaborated with double curves; and the circle itself is divided into four equal sections forming a cross." Possible meanings of the design are also discussed on pp. 67-68 in the same article.