Coat Decorated, Fragmentary
date: label: Accession Date
content: 21 Oct 1881
name: label: Collector
content: George Catlin
label: Donor Name
content: Mrs. Joseph Harrison Jr.
notes: label: Notes
content: FROM CARD: "COAT OF BUFFALO HIDE; PATTERN: DIFFERS FROM NO. 386522. BODY IS OF A SINGLE PIECE OF SKIN, SHAPED AT SHOULDERS BY CUTTING AND SEWING; WITH ONLY A GORE AT LOWER CENTER ADDED; SLEEVES NOW MISSING AND PORTION OF UPPER LEFT SIDE. DECORATION: PAINTED DESIGNS IN BORDER TWO SIDES AND BOTTOM, AND IN LARGE MOTIVES EXTENDING UPWARD FROM BOTTOM BORDER. DESIGN IS BILATERALLY SYMMETRICAL ON A VERTICAL AXIS UP MID-BACK. MOTIVES ARE LARGE OUTCURVED DOUBLE CURVES, TRIANGLES, ARROWHEAD-LIKE FORMS, SMALL CIRCLES, AND RECTANGULAR AREAS OF PARFLECHE-LIKE DESIGNS OUTLINED WITH SIZING PAINTED COLORS - RED, DARK BROWN, BLUE AND YELLOW, AND SIZE MARKING APPEARING IN BORDER ONLY. ALSO 17 QUILLED ROSETTES (OF WHICH 7 NOW MISSING OF VARYING SIZES FROM 8" DIAM. TO 2 1/2" DIAM. QUILL COLORS ARE DARK BROWN, RED, ORANGE, YELLOW AND BLUE. ALSO WERE THREE BANDS WITH ROSETTES AT TOP OF BACK, OF WHICH ONLY THE ROSETTES REMAIN. BOTTOM AND SIDE EDGES DEC. WITH FUR BORDER (NOW FRAGMENTARY). WRITTEN IN BLACK OR BROWN INK ON FRAGMENT OF UPPER LEFT SIDE IS THE NAME "P. ANN NICHOLAY"? (ALMOST ILLEGIBLE AND EXACT RENDERING QUESTIONABLE.) ALTHOUGH CONSTRUCTION PATTERN DIFFERS SOMEWHAT FROM NO. 386,522 THERE ARE MANY SIMILARITIES IN THE DECORATIVE MOTIVES; SUGGESTING THEIR ORIGIN IN SAME OR NEIGHBORING LOCALITIES, WITHIN THE BUFFALO RANGE, PROBABLY N.E. PLAINS OR ADJACENT PORTION OF WOODLANDS. - JOHN C. EWERS, JAN. 16, 1948. [BLACK AND WHITE] PHOTO NEG. NO. - 31155C." FOR COMPARISON SEE METIS COAT (ETHNOGRAPHY 917 FROM THE BRITISH MUSEUM), ILLUS. IN FIG. 249, P. 235 IN FIRST PEOPLES, FIRST CONTACTS, NATIVE PEOPLES OF NORTH AMERICA, BY J.C.H. KING, HARVARD UNIVERSITY PRESS, 1999. Identified as possibly of Cree or Metis manufacture by Morgan Baillargeon, Canadian Museum of Civilization, 2009.
label: Notes
content: See also coat with similiar painted decoration illus. Fig. 2.1 p. 56 and Fig. 2.2 p. 60 in "Crossing Worlds: Hide Coats, Relationships, and Identity in Rupert's Land and Britain" by Laura Peers, Chapter 2 in Object Lives and Global Histories in Northern America: Material Culture in Motion c. 1780–1980 . Lemire, Beverly, Peers, Laura, and Whitelaw, Anne, eds. Montreal: McGill-Queen's University Press, 2021. Coat is in collection of the Pitt Rivers Museum, University of Oxford, # 1951.2.19. The Pitt Rivers coat is described as being cut somewhat like a European greatcoat but with a central vertical triangular panel in the center back skirt to add fullness. It was probably made near the Red River Settlement by Cree-Metis people between 1820 - 1860. Coat E386523 appears to be missing some formerly attached quillwork and/or beadwork. The Pitt Rivers coat has its quillwork still present, and its quillwork resembles the quillwork now attached to shirt E386505 and E386506 and the quillwork with shirt E386509.
label: Record Last Modified
content: 8 Jul 2022
label: Specimen Count
content: 1
place: label: Place
content: United States / Canada, North America
topic: label: Topic
content: Ethnology
culture: label: Culture
content: (?)
label: Culture
content: Metis (?)
label: Culture
content: Cree (?)
setName: label: See more items in
content: Anthropology
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: NMNH - Anthropology Dept.
identifier: label: Accession Number
content: 010638
label: USNM Number
content: E386523-0
objectType: label: Object Type
content: Coat
physicalDescription: label: Maximum Diameter - Object
content: 20 cm
label: Minimum Diameter - Object
content: 6.3 cm