Nez Perce Bag Gallery
NEZ PERCE
Storage Bag, late 19th c.
Hemp, cornhusk, cotton fastening cord
Southwest Museum, Los Angeles
This bag uses Indian hemp twine for its foundation fabric and cornhusk cord for its decorative motifs. One side of the bag features a design with colored diagonal bands that were made using natural red, blue and green dyes, while the other side features a diamond-patterned design that employs only the natural hues of the hemp and cornhusk.
NEZ PERCE
Cornhusk Bag, late 19th-early 20th c.
Cotton twine, cornhusk, wool yarn, leather, cloth
Southwest Museum, Los Angeles
This bag is a classic example of a twined bag with false embroidery decoration. Bags of this size and complexity often took as long as two or three months of intermittent labor to complete.
NEZ PERCE
Handbag, late 19th-early 20th c.
Cotton twine, cornhusk, woolen yarn
Schlick collection
Handbags like this are still considered standard personal accessories for Plateau women today. Highly individual in their decorative treatment, they are used on special occasions and are explicit assertions of Indian identity.
NEZ PERCE
Earrings, ca. 2000
Cornhusk, yarn, leather
Schlick collection
Not to be mistaken for tourist trinkets, personal ornaments like these earrings provide a way for Native women to both “wear” their identity and show off the virtuosity of the weaver’s craft.
NEZ PERCE
Storage Bag, early 20th c.
Hemp, cornhusk, natural fiber cord, leather
Southwest Museum, Los Angeles
Nine squares containing star motifs provide an example of an overall design pattern that utilizes many colors and shapes on a plain twined bag that is completed with a leather handle.
NEZ PERCE or CAYUSE
Storage Bag, late 19th-early 20th c.
Hemp, cornhusk, colored yarns, leather
Schlick collection
This bag features a dramatic banded design that is embroidered in a zig-zag motif with brightly colored yarns in purple, red, green, turquoise and black.
NEZ PERCE
Storage bag, early 20th c.
Hemp, cornhusk, leather
Southwest Museum, Los Angeles
Cornhusk embroidery on this bag forms an X-shaped design that is complemented by outlining and the use of variable color hues that add dimension to the centralized design.
NEZ PERCE
Fringed handbag, 1985
Twined corn husk, wool, leather
Southwest Museum, Los Angeles
Its idiosyncratic design, vivid colors, and fancy leather trim suggest that this bag was created to be a highly cherished personal accessory.
NEZ PERCE or PALOUSE
Storage Bag, ca. 1840s
Indian hemp, cornhusk, cordage
University of Colorado Museum
Recovered after the Battle of Clearwater in 1877, this bag has been attributed and dated on the basis of where and when it was found as well as its construction materials and design.
NEZ PERCE
Plain Twined Storage Bag, ca. 1945
Hemp, cornhusk, yarn, cotton twine, leather thong
Southwest Museum, Los Angeles
As scholars and collectors became increasingly interested in Native American art over the course of the 20th century, more effort was made to preserve the names and identities of those craftspeople who were still actively practicing the traditional arts. This bag, for instance, is recorded as having been created by a mid-century Nez Perce weaver known as Mrs. Bull Weasel.