Female Doll Wearing Painted Hide Strap Dress

Female Doll Wearing Painted Hide Strap Dress

E90036-0

From Oberholtzer: "Their cloth bodies are stuffed, perhaps with caribou hair, and their heads are carved wood… The female's dress is of painted fetal caribou skin, sewn with the fur inside; it is cinched at the waist by a cotton cloth belt fastened at the front with sinew. The separate sleeves, straight-cut leggings and hood are navy wool cloth. The hood is lined with green tartan and is worn over a tartan shawl tied over the head and around the shoulders."

1882-1884

Naskapi or Cree

Kuujjuaq (formerly Fort Chimo), Ungava Bay region, Quebec

wood, cotton fabric, wool cloth, animal fur, caribou hide, seed beads, red and black pigment

Identified by Oberholtzer as male and female dolls, collected between 1882 and 1884 from Kuujjuaq (formerly Fort Chimo), Ungava Bay region, Quebec, by Lucien Turner, who identified the female doll as Nenenot (Naskapi). Oberholtzer identifies the dolls as Cree, and notes that "While Turner was there [at Fort Chimo], a number of Cree families from Fort George and Little Whale River traveled there to hunt ... . Turner's extended stay in the area and the Cree presence gave him an opportunity to collection Cree items, including dolls."

painted hide, strap dress

Julia Harrison, Ed. The Spirit Sings: Artistic Traditions of Canada’s First Peoples: A Catalogue of the Exhibition (Toronto: McClelland and Stewart, 1987)

Cath Oberholtzer. 2011, "Made for Trade: Souvenirs from the Eastern Subarctic," American Indian Art Magazine, 36(2)

Cory Willmott. (2021). Decolonizing the Museum to Reclaim and Revitalize the Anishinaabe Strap Dress. Winterthur Portfolio. 55. 121-185

58.10732, -68.39968 (N 58°06′26″ W 68°23′59″)

height 45 cm; width 26 cm

doll