Mi’kmaq Quillwork: Markers of Memory

Quillwork: An Exotic Trade Good from Eastern Canada

Some of the earliest and most popular Mi’kmaq items manufactured for trade with English and European travellers were made from quilled birchbark. The need for large quantities of trade goods, and the gradual decline in the profitability of the fur trade were primary factors in a period of florescence in Mi’kmaq quillwork beginning in the 18th century.

Numerous quilling techniques pre-dated sustained European settlement in the maritimes, including plating, wrapping, and weaving, however it was the so called bark-insertion techniques used to make semi-ridged goods such as boxes, which outlasted other methods of quillwork among the Mi’kmaq.

Quills, collected from porcupines, were conducive to retained dyes, and offered a flexible and resilient canvas for exploring complex compositions, and interplay between colours. Versatile and abundant birch bark, cut and peeled away from the trunks of trees, had long been bent and stitched into pliable wares for cooking, storage, and transportation in the form of watercraft. The material lent itself well to the insertion of quills, and provided Europeans with an exotic substitute for leather and fabric construction familiar to them.

markers of memory

While the overall form of quillwork items made by the Mi’kmaq for trade were often made in the form of European goods, such as travel chests, fancy boxes, and purses, the elaborate quilled motifs on the objects are rich with traditional Mi’kmaq designs. The designs may appear to the novice viewer as pure abstraction, however, many elements were drawn from a body of pre-contact symbolic devices, markers of meaning legible to Mi’kmaq makers.

The symbolic aspect of the designs seems to have been largely unknown, or at the very least undocumented by most European purchasers of the period. However, a study of the few early sources discussing the designs reveals a richness and depth of meaning in historical Mi’kmaq quillwork imagery.

A remarkable collection at auction

We are pleased to present an important lifetime collection of over 35 objects of Mi’kmaq quillwork, assembled over 30 years of dedicated collecting, in our Historic First Nations Art auction, online now. Items in this remarkable collection span over 125 years of production, with the earliest forms typical of 18th century examples.

Pursuit and Preservation

Examples of quillwork could be found in early homes of settlers in the maritimes, as well as in collectors’ cabinets, and on fireplace mantels of soldiers, sailors, and other early visitors to North America from England and France. Items in the present collection came from all of these sources. Diligently, and lovingly, they were sought out and purchased in back country yard sales, and antique shops, as well as in print catalogues—and later, online auctions in English and European sales rooms. Items were acquired from environments of care and stewardship, and occasionally disinterest and neglect. Passion, curiosity, dedication, and a belief in the importance of stewardship, have all been factors in the collector’s acquisitions, and in the preservation of the items over the past 30 years while in the collector’s care.

Ruth Holmes Whitehead, Micmac Quillwork: Micmac Indian Techniques of Porcupine Quill Decoration: 1600-1950 (Halifax: The Nova Scotia Museum, 1982)

About the Auction

Featuring historic objects made both for sale, and for everyday use, the art and craftwork in this auction spotlights continuity and innovation in diverse First Nations traditions.

Highlights include an important lifetime collection of over 35 objects of Mi’kmaq quillwork, assembled over 30 years of dedicated collecting, as well as selections from the collection of author C. Frank Turner, including a pair of moccasins once gifted by the important Oglala Chief, Redcloud.

Bidding starts to close on Thursday, September 11, 2025 at 3 PM ET.

Previews at our Toronto gallery are available:
Sunday, September 7 from 12 pm to 4 pm
Monday, September 8 from 10 am to 5 pm
Tuesday, September 9 from 10 am to 5 pm
Or by appointment.

Please contact us for more information.