Museum Expedition 1930, Robert B. Woodward Memorial Fund and the Museum Collection Fund

Beaded band with bright green background with blue and gold beads in an arrow shaped design. Scalloped beaded edge and blue beaded dangles on the end.Loom woven.

Size: adult; probable wearer: male. Wool (camelid), warp-faced plain weave; wool, silk, and metallic (on linen core) embroidery; wool plain-weave appliqué (European?). One of only a few known Spanish Colonial embroidered tunics composed of a single length of warp-faced plain weave camelid wool with a subtle herringbone pattern. It is dark brown in color with broad stripes of red at the sides and embroidered designs at the neck opening and the bottom. In several places the embroidery is covered by small appliqués of cloth. The warp threads alternate narrow stripes of yarns spun in the "S" direction with narrow stripes of yarns spun in the "Z" direction. The result is a subtle striping effect throughout the fabric called l'loque. Contemporary Andean weavers believe l'loque keeps the "spirit" of the cloth contained. On one side, the border design consists of two Inca warriors amid three pairs of heraldic animals; on the other side three Incas are portrayed attended by musicians and women offering flowers. Embroidered above the head of the central Inca is a rainbow. The heraldic animals and Inca warriors on the other side are sewn with silver threads in a dense composition that resembles European textile designs, while the Incas and their attendants are sewn in bright colors with each figure standing out clearly against the background in an arrangement similar to the painted designs on native drinking cups (keros). The bottom edges of both sides are the same. They are embroidered with a row of small rectangular patterns that recall the tocapu designs woven on pre-Conquest Inca tapestry tunics. The neck of the tunic is also decorated with tocapu-like designs and floral motifs; on one side below the neck opening is an appliqué of a double-headed eagle of European derivation. It is possible that some of the embroidery is a recent addition; however, the appearance of the garment convincingly indicates prolonged use.

The backs of these mittens and the thumbs are quilled with red, light blue, white, and purple porcupine quills in a floral design. The main composition is symmetrically arranged around an equal-armed, eight pointed element on a quadrate layout. The effect is of a flowering plant bursting into blossoms toward the fingertips so that the design is oriented towards the wearer. Design elements consist of the double curve cross, the trefoil, tear drop shaped and heart shaped motifs. A smaller curvilinear floral and leaf is embroidered on the thumb. Clustered on a single stem, similar design elements appear in blue, red, white, and purple. The cuffs are made of dark blue Stroud cloth decorated at the border with beads and ribbon. From the upper third of the cuff, proceeding toward the fingers, the ornaments are arranged: a scalloped design of white beads, each point terminating in a trilobal design; then a field of red ribbon; followed by a simple line of single white beads; a narrow band of gold or dark yellow ribbon; and finally a border of two lines of white beads. Blue and white bird quills decorate the seams. See supplementary file in Arts of Americas office.

This shirt is very early, pre 1830s Blackfoot. The fringe along the sleeves and shirttail is the remnants of ermine and bits can still be seen. The painted figures of people are probably indicative of dead people or people the warrior killed. Should be called a War Shirt not a dress shirt. The quillwork is bird quill. Quillwork is similar to Mandan Hidatsa. Sometimes dots that are rounded indicate hailstones but then they are organized in a scattered fashion more like splashes. There are many anomalies in the quill/bead design.

Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Jerome Blum

Bequest of W.S. Morton Mead

This garter is loom woven probably without the use of a heddle. The warps and wefts are thread and made with small seed beads. It has a repeated motif of eight-pointed yellow stars with white centers, outlined in blue, red, and clear beads on a blue and cloudy white background. See other garters 50.67.37 a,b,d.shown in additional potograph.

Pouch with red, white, and blue beadwork. The design on the flap extends partly down the back of this man's bandolier bag. The strap design is somewhat different as the "U" form shape all continues in one direction instead of changing to a mirror image reflection of right and left sides.

The backs, thumbs, and cuffs of these mittens are decorated with porcupine quillwork in a delicate curvilinear and geometric design complex that was originally colored bright blue, red, white, and purple. The cuff is decorated with a scalloped quillwork line in red and green and a horizontal border in registers of red, blue and green with white and purple diamonds running through it. On the front of the mitten (the back side of the wearer's hand) is a stylized, four petaled, red flower with two secondary tri-lobed flowers, represented by blue outlines and three heart-shaped petals that emerge from the center of the red flower. Four curvilinear green and white lines emerge from the center of this red flower and they in turn terminate in flowers with three-pointed petals of red, blue, and purple. This is referred to as "turning swastika-like cross petals design." On the same side of the mitten, closest to where the thumb is on the reverse, is a quilled strip of red and purple diamonds, bordered in white and placed on a band-like field of blue and red. On the thumb itself is a pattern of three flowers combined, a red one at the center and a blue and white one on each side. This motif is placed above a four-lobed linear representation of a red flower, very similar to the large one on the other side of the mitten. There is evidence the mittens once had a fur strip edging. The mittens have a printed cloth lining, patterned with a brownish green leafy or paisley design on a natural ground. The pattern is not meant to show as it is faced into the inside of the mittens. See Jarvis supplemental file Arts of Americas office.