Pair of Straps with Breastplate

Pair of Straps with Breastplate

45-15-282

This pair of straps from a strap dress is made of a layer of stiff canvas on the back and red stroud on the front, with linear applique beadwork sewn through both layers. Motifs focus around a variation of the ottertail motif with panels of diamond mesh in between elongated diamonds. A single row of zig zags in blue beads runs horizontally across the central panel. Blue beads are also used in the border around the straps and panel.

1880

Cree

Blackfeet Indian Reservation, Montana

Stroud base with canvas backed straps for strap dress. White and blue seed beads worked in linear overlay stitch.

Purchased from Mrs. Owen Stephens, 1945. Date estimated by me from style. Owen Stephens was a scientific illustrator who worked for AMNH.

Willmott, Cory. 2021. Decolonizing the Museum to Reclaim and Revitalize the Anishinaabe Strap Dress. Winterthur Portfolio 55(2/3): 121-85

48.66685025742029, -112.91770051537048

straps