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| fire bag
CD2005-0057
D2004-24779 | |
| | Artifact Number | VI-Z-235 | | | Current Cultural Affiliations | Metis
| | | All Affiliations | Metis (type/style)
Athapaskan (type/style)
Western Subarctic
| | | Category | 03: personal artifacts
| | | Sub-category | C160: personal gear
| | | Place of Origin | Country - Canada
| | | Measurements | Length 43.5 cm, Width 26.0 cm, Thickness 2.0 cm | | | Earliest Possible Date | 1865/01/01 | | | Latest Possible Date | 1875/12/31 | | | Caption | Octopus-type pouch, ca. 1870
| | Additional Information | Floral designs on articles made by the Indians of the northern forests were once thought to be traditional Native motifs. Yet, such patterns are seldom seen on items made before 1800, and were never present in prehistoric Native art expressions. The designs on this mid-nineteenth-century Métis pouch clearly represent European flowers in compositions that are reminiscent of colonial folk art. This influence is not surprising when we consider that Ursuline nuns in Québec in the mid-1600s had started mission schools in which they instructed Native girls in the art of embroidery. Truly floral art, however, had its genesis in the Great Lakes region in the late eighteenth century. There, Métis women living at missions and fur trade posts integrated realistic floral designs into their pictorial vocabulary. By the time the Métis had settled on the Red River, their floral artistry was so distinctive that they came to be called the Flower Beadwork People by the Indians of the region. Gradually, through trade and intermarriage with the Métis, Native peoples began to borrow their brilliant floral motifs, and the style spread throughout northwestern Canada, leading to the development of several local variants. Pictured here is a Métis octopus pouch - so called for the four double tabs at the bottom. Made of cloth, such pouches were embroidered with silk thread or beads, and were used for carrying pipe, tobacco, and flint-and-steel.
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CD2005-0057
D2004-24778 | |
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CD2005-0057
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CD2005-0057
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CD94-685
S89-1739 | |
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