Gift of Thomas Watters, Jr.

Museum Expedition 1903, Museum Collection Fund

Museum Expedition 1903, Museum Collection Fund

Amauti style woman's parka. The exterior of the coat is white, with high cut sides and a long back flap. Purple, pink, white and black trim edges the hem and wrists of the outer coat, while similar but darker trim decorates the centre front, with a tassel of yarn hanging from the neck, and lower back. The hood is edged with thick fur and a tassel hangs from the top. The top back of the coat has a pouch for a child. Three beaded tassels hang down the centre of the back flap. The undercoat is made of light quilting fabric in pink with blue hearts on one side and multi-patterned on the other.

Doll in the image of an Inuit woman. The body is made of pink cotton fabric stuffed with wool. The head has been sewn on, and is white, with stitched black facial features and black wool for hair in two long braids. A red woolen hat sits atop the head. The doll wears a patterned pink skirt and a white and blue parka trimmed with a leather fringe along the bottom. The jacket is short at the sides and dips to below the knees at back and to the thighs at front. The parka is decorated with buttons, braiding and fabric fringe and has a large hood. Part b is a pair of detachable blue pants, made of cotton, with an attached set of leather and hide boots that reach the knees.

Red saddlebag with five tassels, rectangular in shape with a tapered point at the bottom edge. A geometric design embroidered in the centre portion of the bag represents a “cow in the tree/bush” motif. The design itself is embroidered with brown sheep’s wool yarn. A light brown yarn is stitched around the design as a border. There are five tassels at the base of the bag each with three sections of horse hair. Around each of the tassels there is a blue, yellow and red pattern wrapped around the tassel itself. Many of the tassels are knotted. The horse hair is tied to the tassel with a red-orange piece of material. The bag also has a strap that has light brown, orange, yellow and green lines. On either side of the bag where the strap begins are three tassels each with a different coloured end (orange blue and yellow). Also attached to the tassels are several beads (black and white) and round metal discs.

Brown and white knit wool vest. The edges of the bottom of the vest, around the arm holes and around the neck opening, are knit using brown wool and a very subtle design. The vest is made of two pieces, a front piece and a back piece that have been stitched together. On the sides, the two pieces are stitched together with brown wool while the top of the vest is stitched together with white-brown wool. The design on the vest varied from the top to the bottom. On the top of the vest near the neck opening there is alternating brown and white brown unfinished lines. The design on the bottom half of the vest is alternating brown and white-brown patches.

Long sleeved, light brown coat (part a), open at the front with belt (part b) for closure. There is red-brown embroidery on either side of the opening, the lapels, pockets, sleeves, and on the back and at the bottom of the jacket. Throughout the embroidered design there are blue, green and orange circles. The design of the embroidery is a repeating floral and hatch work pattern. The design found on the back side of the coat is the same pattern as that found in the centre, top of the jacket. The pattern on the sleeves and lower front lapels is reminiscent of Kashmiri style of “mango pip” paisley shapes. The belt is also light brown with red-brown embroidery in a repeating diamond pattern. In the centre of each diamond are alternating green, orange and blue circles. One end of the belt tapers to a point while the other end is squared off.

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.

A man’s brown winter coat, or robe, open at the front with long sleeves. The brown wool (“pusp”) is natural, undyed sheep’s wool. Around the collar and the shoulder sections there is an embroidered design in the same brown wool yarn. On the front of the coat, there are two decorative tassels on either side of the opening, near where the wearer’s upper chest would be. The tassel is sewn on to the coat at the centre point of an embroidered round design, also in the same brown wool yarn. The tassel is mainly brown but there are coloured threads wrapped around the brown thread with silver being the most predominant thread colour. At the end of the tassel, the strands are broken into four sections and there is a woven design at the end of each of the sections.