Brooklyn Museum Collection

Pair of long boots made of caribou skin; with long, brown fur strips and edged with white fur.

Gift of Sasha Nyary and Family

Small size moccasins with a beaded edge in pink, green and white toes. Crow, made from recycled Crow parfleches as design remants can be seen on the bottom .

These are Crow or Ute mocassins. Crow and Ute mix floral and geometric beadwork designs.

After review by several different consultants these mocassins are probably Commanche, although there is a possibility they are Kiowa. Yellow painted mocassins with a beaded arrow design in white, red ,and green on the vamp.

These leggings are constructed with a long "tab" at each hip, near the top and above each outer seam. Below these tabs the outer seams on the rest of both leggings are decorated with one vertical strip of porcupine quillwork on each, outlined with beads in red, white-centered red, and black. The small seed bead and the cornalined'allepo (the white-centered) beads are not usually found on garments this early. Long fringes ornament the outer seams and the base of each strand is wrapped with red porcupine quills. The top and bottom edges of the leggings have short fringes. Shorter tabs are sewn on the bottom. This is generally referred to as bottom tabbed leggings, a style that permitted the tabs to stream along after the wearer when walking, a fashion that existed for only a brief time.

Compared to many other Plains leggings this pair is exceptionally short at 25 inches in length. Most others average over 42 inches on the inside seam and some up to 48 inches, with up to 72 inches on the outside seam. The skin on these leggings is the same light color and texture as matching shirt 50.67.7a. They look new and unworn. The leggings are decorated with a single flap, which are cut into short fringes. These fringes are wrapped with alternating red and blue quills. The top of the leggings have every other fringe cut out to create a toothed effect. Like the shirt, these leggings may be unfinished. There are no ties on the upper portion for looping to a belt or fastening at a thigh flap. However, both leggings have a dart sewn at this area, perhaps indicating that a tie was once attached. There is the possibility that these leggings were made in the Metis fashion, observed on several scouts,as knee high only. This would make them the same length as women's leggings. See Jarvis supplemental file in Arts of Americas office.

These leggings match 50.67.3a. The treatment of the skin of the leggings seems close to that of the shirt in texture and color as well as similar to the leggings of 50.67.9a-b. However, the color of the painting on the shirt and leggings differ with the shirt having red and black pigment and the leggings painted a reddish brown. The leggings show signs of use. The top is stretched and the ties twisted to conform to how they would have been tied. The leggings have tabbed bottoms, cut short across the top of the inset. The internal fringe is quite long, some 10 1/2 inches at the longest. Both leggings are painted with horizontal stripes, the proper right with nine stripes and the left with ten. The color varies from orange on the front to brown on the back.

These might be northern Cheyenne as the extra tall ankle pieces may be a version used by a northern artist. These baby’s moccasins have the tipi door design but there is no extra beaded strip across the vamp and heel that would usually be found on Cheyenne moccasins. The pointed toe is also an earlier fashion of northern Cheyenne but they could also be Northern Arapaho. They have parfleche bottoms as remants of the painted design remain. Quite a lot of the green fringe cloth is missing from around the ankle.