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PROPERTY OF A TEXAS GENTLEMAN
A KIOWA BEADED HIDE MODEL CRADLEBOARD
Details
A KIOWA BEADED HIDE MODEL CRADLEBOARD
of usual form with hide doll enclosed, mounted on a pair of pointed wood slats, with lane-stitch and overlay beadwork in yellow, white, three shades of blue, and translucent red and green beads, decorated with three stepped triangles on one side, two abstract elements on the other, and a band of small triangular elements around the opening, hide fringe with yellow ochre below
Height: 21½ in. (54.6 cm.) overall
of usual form with hide doll enclosed, mounted on a pair of pointed wood slats, with lane-stitch and overlay beadwork in yellow, white, three shades of blue, and translucent red and green beads, decorated with three stepped triangles on one side, two abstract elements on the other, and a band of small triangular elements around the opening, hide fringe with yellow ochre below
Height: 21½ in. (54.6 cm.) overall
Provenance
Gifted to the current owner's grandmother upon her ninth birthday in 1894 by her great uncle, Col. Horace P. Jones, who worked as an interpreter and scout for the Bureau of Indian affairs from 1848 until his death in 1902.
Further details
Southern Plains arts generally emphasize minimal decoration of objects with few exceptions, one of them being Kiowa and Comanche cradleboards. In fact, cradleboards are the most elaborate expression of art in Kiowa material culture -- their covers are the largest fully beaded objects. This artistic exuberance demonstrates one way in which Indian peoples lavish affection and attention on their children. Yet the cradleboard functions as a tabular rasa for the beadworkers' skill and creativity -- the use of color, and broad range of designs receiving full expression thereon. Motifs range from minute to bold, and from solidly geometric, through curvilinear, to realistic floral. More than any other tribe, Kiowa artists employ asymmetry in their beadwork. As with each moccasin of some pairs, the two sides of most cradleboards are beaded differently. Moreover, like this cradleboard, the background color of each half is sometimes the same, but the designs and color combinations are dissimilar. With some examples, even the background is a different color. As an artistic convention, asymmetry leaves the cradleboard to present completely different aspects from diverse perspectives.
Benson L. Lanford
May 3, 2004
Benson L. Lanford
May 3, 2004