Blackfoot Man's Shirt
1890
Height 13" Width 20.7"
Length across the arms 58"
Length of Tunic 33"
Provenance: Mark and Linda Miller Collection, New Jersey
Bonhams Native American Art, Los Angeles, December 11 2018, lot 546
A Private Northern Collection, acquired from the above
Open at the sides, a profusion of thick fringe and ermine drops, with bead and dyed feather accents, the beaded panels thread-sewn, with two-tone stroud cloth bibs, the thick hide painted with polliwog motifs, banded patterns down the arms.
See Penney, David W. and Longfish, George C., Native American Art, 1994, Hugh Lauter Levin Associates, Fairfield, CT, p.90, wherein a similar shirt is described: "Strips of white ermine skin hang as fringe from the shoulder and arm strips of this shirt. The ermine, or weasel, is one of the most ferocious and tenacious of predators, making it an appropriate symbol for the cultural values of the Blackfeet warrior. The 'polliwog'-shaped designs painted on the shirt are spent bullets to which a courageous and powerful warrior remains impervious and unmindful while facing the enemy."
1890
Height 13" Width 20.7"
Length across the arms 58"
Length of Tunic 33"
Provenance: Mark and Linda Miller Collection, New Jersey
Bonhams Native American Art, Los Angeles, December 11 2018, lot 546
A Private Northern Collection, acquired from the above
Open at the sides, a profusion of thick fringe and ermine drops, with bead and dyed feather accents, the beaded panels thread-sewn, with two-tone stroud cloth bibs, the thick hide painted with polliwog motifs, banded patterns down the arms.
See Penney, David W. and Longfish, George C., Native American Art, 1994, Hugh Lauter Levin Associates, Fairfield, CT, p.90, wherein a similar shirt is described: "Strips of white ermine skin hang as fringe from the shoulder and arm strips of this shirt. The ermine, or weasel, is one of the most ferocious and tenacious of predators, making it an appropriate symbol for the cultural values of the Blackfeet warrior. The 'polliwog'-shaped designs painted on the shirt are spent bullets to which a courageous and powerful warrior remains impervious and unmindful while facing the enemy."
1890
Height 13" Width 20.7"
Length across the arms 58"
Length of Tunic 33"
Provenance: Mark and Linda Miller Collection, New Jersey
Bonhams Native American Art, Los Angeles, December 11 2018, lot 546
A Private Northern Collection, acquired from the above
Open at the sides, a profusion of thick fringe and ermine drops, with bead and dyed feather accents, the beaded panels thread-sewn, with two-tone stroud cloth bibs, the thick hide painted with polliwog motifs, banded patterns down the arms.
See Penney, David W. and Longfish, George C., Native American Art, 1994, Hugh Lauter Levin Associates, Fairfield, CT, p.90, wherein a similar shirt is described: "Strips of white ermine skin hang as fringe from the shoulder and arm strips of this shirt. The ermine, or weasel, is one of the most ferocious and tenacious of predators, making it an appropriate symbol for the cultural values of the Blackfeet warrior. The 'polliwog'-shaped designs painted on the shirt are spent bullets to which a courageous and powerful warrior remains impervious and unmindful while facing the enemy."