A CENTRAL PLAINS BEADED HIDE AND FRINGED WAR SHIRT

POSSIBLY OMAHA

Details

A CENTRAL PLAINS BEADED HIDE AND FRINGED WAR SHIRT
Possibly Omaha
With open sides and applied beaded panels over the shoulders and along sleeves with cross patterns alternating with forked designs accented with three triangles each, sinew sewn in pink, green, three shades of blue, translucent red and yellow beads against a white ground, elongated triangular panels attached at the neckline decorated in similar colors forming five rows of graduating "feather" motifs, neckline, end of sleeves and bottom of shirt decorated with narrow beaded bands also in similar colors composed of diagonal bars against a white ground, all beaded panels trimmed with tufts of bound hair wrapped with red quillwork, painted yellow all over, fringe along sleeves sides and bottom all painted green, inside a number "61.34/M
62in. (158.7cm.) wide

Lot Essay

Several factors lead to the identification of this shirt as Central Plains. First there are the construction techniques employed. The shirt is beaded in lazy stitch but with the individual rows of beads lining up horizontally, similar to what is common in Southwestern Cheyenne beadwork. Secondly the attaching of the quilled hairlocks is done in a non-Sioux technique. Thirdly, the shirt cut is more typical of the Southern-Central Plains area, with the use of yellow paint on the body and green paint on the fringes. The neck flaps are also sewn down on the shirt body, which is an unusual trait. The techniques are similar to a shirt collected by Francis La Flesche, in the early 1900's, among the Omaha and currently in the Berlin Museum (Taylor, 1998).

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