Museum Expedition 1903, Museum Collection Fund

This carpet is most likely a prayer rug used in church that belonged to an elite woman in Spanish colonial Peru. Its design features a man and woman attended by an enslaved black figure. The woman dons upper-class European attire, a social signifier embraced by wealthy Creoles (American-born Spaniards) to underscore their socio-racial and cultural ties to the Old World. Despite their unprecedented purchasing power, Creoles lacked political equity. The resulting tension paved the way for the many wars of independence from Spain in the nineteenth century.

By exchange

Miniature boots made with red wool tops, a fur section for the length of the boots and plain skin feet. The foot portion has green embroidery thread woven around it. Multi-coloured embroidery thread tassels are attached on the side at the tops of the boots. Tied together with embroidery thread.

Button blanket made from a rectangular piece of red wool with a border of blue wool on three sides. The bottom has no border. The border has a pattern of shell buttons – a large one directly on the red edge with smaller buttons surrounding it. In the centre is a large bird in blue with a copper on its torso, outlined in small shell buttons. The back is unlined and the top has a button for wearing.

Dance apron made of dark red felt with a dark blue wool backing, green and black appliques, beaded designs and rows of bells. The designs are beaded and appliqued plant-like shapes, copper shields and geometrical shapes, surrounding a flower on a long stem. Smaller copper bells hang in three rows at the bottom of the apron, with seven larger silver coloured bells decorating a plant shape above the bottom band. The left, right and bottom edge of the blanket have a scalloped edge. Red cotton apron ties hang on each side.

Long wool sash, commonly called an arrow sash, or ceinture fléchée. Mainly red with coloured stripes and long fringes at each end. The middle stripe is solid red, with stripes of diagonally patterned white, blue, grey, green, yellow, green and blue toward both sides.

Headdress and carved wooden frontlet with an extensive ermine trailer. The frontlet’s main figure is an eagle with a small bear head and paws below and a wolf(?) head and paws above. The eagle has shell eyes and many abalone decorative inlays around it. Sea lion whiskers project upward from the top of the headdress. The entire upper head area is covered with eaglet skin with the fine down still attached. A long ermine trailer sewn on red cotton hangs below the headpiece. There is an abalone eagle crest attached on the left side.

Beaded knife holder. The dark red felt strap is outlined in green cotton and outlined with white beads. The knife pocket is dark green wool outlined with a blue fabric and white beads, with two horizontal bands of blue in the upper portion and decorated with small white beads. A geometric pattern of four squares of green beads joined and outlined with red beads runs along the holder vertically. The back of the strap is lined with cotton.

Button blanket of dark brown velvet with red cotton borders, multiple seams. A thunderbird motif is appliquéd in red fabric in the centre of the blanket, and floral and other motifs are applied around the border with buttons, pieces of abalone shell, beads, and commercially produced “rickrack” trim. Lines of glass beads go through the red portion and the brown. The backing is a patterned cotton fabric. Hand written "Tonto" in black marker on the red border; on the opposite side of the border a Griffin patch has been sewn on. A plastic tag with the name “STANLEY” has been adhered to the bottom corner.