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PROPERTY OF NEW HAVEN COLONY HISTORICAL SOCIETY, Sold To Benefit The Acquisitions Fund
A CREE QUILLED HIDE COAT
Details
A CREE QUILLED HIDE COAT
in the style of a Euro-American frockcoat, composed of buckskin with dyed yellow, orange, red, blue, and light brown porcupine quills, the front with a scrolling design of stylized floral motifs at top, similar isolated elements below, the back with two rosettes on the shoulder blades centering a stylized floral design, and a rectangular panel of quill-wrapped fringe spaced by blue pony beads at the back pleat, each shoulder seam with similar fringe, short quill-wrapped fringe along the bottom edge
Length: 41 in. (104.2 cm.)
in the style of a Euro-American frockcoat, composed of buckskin with dyed yellow, orange, red, blue, and light brown porcupine quills, the front with a scrolling design of stylized floral motifs at top, similar isolated elements below, the back with two rosettes on the shoulder blades centering a stylized floral design, and a rectangular panel of quill-wrapped fringe spaced by blue pony beads at the back pleat, each shoulder seam with similar fringe, short quill-wrapped fringe along the bottom edge
Length: 41 in. (104.2 cm.)
Provenance
Collected before or during 1832 by Zachary Taylor, twelfth President of the United States, who gave it to his son, Richard Taylor. In appreciation for kindnesses while a student at Yale University (Class of 1845), the younger Taylor gifted it to Professor James Luce Kingsley. Descended in the Kingsley family until June of 1931, when it was gifted to New Haven Colony Historical Society.
This lot is accompanied by two letters, each written by a member of the Kingsley family in 1931, supporting the provenance above. One, written by Elizabeth Kingsley Farnam, states: "it was brought from the West by Colonel Zachary Taylor ... when he was fighting Indians."
This lot is accompanied by two letters, each written by a member of the Kingsley family in 1931, supporting the provenance above. One, written by Elizabeth Kingsley Farnam, states: "it was brought from the West by Colonel Zachary Taylor ... when he was fighting Indians."
Further details
No doubt Zachary Taylor was captivated by this splendid quilled coat when he chose to return east with it as a souvenir of one of his military sojourns against the Indians of the Old Northwest. Perhaps it was during his last engagement, the Black Hawk War or 1832. Surely Taylor appreciated its distinctiveness as an Indian-made replica of the Euro-American frockcoats much in fashion at the time -- the maker's artisitc mastery not lost on him. "Skin coats modeled on the European cloth coats sold by traders were made by the Ojibway, Cree, and particularly the Red River me'tis [sic] in the early 1800s. Artist Frank B. Mayer, attending an 1851 treaty signing, drew a coat similar to this one [pictured in book], labeling it 'winter dress of Red River half-breeds'," (Gilman, 1982 p. 107).
An engaging facet of observing American Indian material culture is the cognizance of native artistic ability, technical accomplishments, and keen ingenuity in their ability to replicate things alien to their respective cultures. Trade goods, especially ready-made garments, were expensive items during the era, yet they exerted stong appeal. Resourceful Indian artists created remarkable fascimiles of prized items such as frockcoats, giving them a decided Indian twist. Utilizing but few other than native materials, along with finely tanned deerskins, and dyed porcupine quills -- that ancient and uniquely North American Indian decorative medium, the maker of this coat faithfully copied and elaborated upon a garment type wholly alien to their people's tradition. The palette of bright colors obtained from native-made vegetal dyes predates the invention of aniline colorants invented in the 1850s. An additional detail of note is a single, cast brass button sewn to the coat at the waist. The upper surface bears a pattern of wavy lines; Robertsons **Extra** on the reverse.
The style of quillwork on this coat exemplifies another phenomenon that quite suddenly arose during the early mid-19th century, a period of artistic foment. This graceful, stylized floral motifs departed radically from the traditional body of native decorative arts comprised almost entirely of geometric forms. Most likely, fabrics printed with intricate floral, foliate, and curvilinear motifs made avaliable to Indian peoples through trade inspired this new art genre. To be sure, a degree of uniformity is seen in the quillwork decoration of buckskin coats of this type, suggesting the possiblility that a relatively limited number of makers were involved, or that the coats were made in only a few locations.
Benson L. Lanford
Ashland, OR
May 6, 2003
An engaging facet of observing American Indian material culture is the cognizance of native artistic ability, technical accomplishments, and keen ingenuity in their ability to replicate things alien to their respective cultures. Trade goods, especially ready-made garments, were expensive items during the era, yet they exerted stong appeal. Resourceful Indian artists created remarkable fascimiles of prized items such as frockcoats, giving them a decided Indian twist. Utilizing but few other than native materials, along with finely tanned deerskins, and dyed porcupine quills -- that ancient and uniquely North American Indian decorative medium, the maker of this coat faithfully copied and elaborated upon a garment type wholly alien to their people's tradition. The palette of bright colors obtained from native-made vegetal dyes predates the invention of aniline colorants invented in the 1850s. An additional detail of note is a single, cast brass button sewn to the coat at the waist. The upper surface bears a pattern of wavy lines; Robertsons **Extra** on the reverse.
The style of quillwork on this coat exemplifies another phenomenon that quite suddenly arose during the early mid-19th century, a period of artistic foment. This graceful, stylized floral motifs departed radically from the traditional body of native decorative arts comprised almost entirely of geometric forms. Most likely, fabrics printed with intricate floral, foliate, and curvilinear motifs made avaliable to Indian peoples through trade inspired this new art genre. To be sure, a degree of uniformity is seen in the quillwork decoration of buckskin coats of this type, suggesting the possiblility that a relatively limited number of makers were involved, or that the coats were made in only a few locations.
Benson L. Lanford
Ashland, OR
May 6, 2003