Additional Images

Provenance:

Christie's Auctioneers, London, UK, by repute, ca. 1985;
George Brown, Toronto, ON;
Collection of Steven Blevins & Sonja Morawetz, Ontario

Note:

Worn by both men and women, sashes were either tied around the waist on dress occasions, worn by men as bandoliers, or wrapped around the head as turbans. Nineteenth century examples woven from wool yarns bartered in trade or unraveled from blankets, may also have included supplemental Indigenous fibers. (1)

The present example is an exceptionally large and finely crafted sash with chevron or arrow designs. The pattern of the textile is emphasized through the incorporation of large white glass “pony beads” that were introduced in trade in the first quarter of the 19th century. (2) Beads are present throughout the central body of the sash and in its intact lengthy fringe.

Subject to deterioration or damage, early Wyandot sashes are rare and often in very poor condition, making largely intact examples notable.

1. David W. Penney, Art of the American Indian Frontier: The Chandler-Pohrt Collection, (Michigan: The Detroit Institute of Arts, 1992), 74-79
2. Zena Pearlstone Mathews, Color and Shape in American Indian Art, (New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1983), 15

Related Works:

National Museum of the American Indian, Cat. No. NMAI 18/4792