Browse Items (51 total)

Its idiosyncratic design, vivid colors, and fancy leather trim suggest that this bag was created to be a highly cherished personal accessory.

Southwest Museum, Los Angeles

Twined corn husk, wool, leather

Although horses and flowers are common motifs on beaded bags, this intricate design depicting a Palamino and an Appaloosa trotting beneath a canopy of rose blossoms is exceptionally fine. The bag features several different types of beads and beading…

Toward the end of the 19th century, cotton replaced Indian hemp as the primary foundation material in most Columbia River twined bags. This handbag has a cotton twine foundation, a false embroidery surface of natural cornhusk and synthetically dyed…

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.

University of Colorado Museum

Indian hemp, cornhusk, cordage

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…

This bag is attributed to a weaver named Susie Walsey Billy who was a member of the Rock Creek Band, one of the 14 tribes comprising the Yakama Nation. The attribution is based on the testimony of Susie’s daughter, Agnes, who was able to identify…

A floral arrangement picked out in red, orange, and brown beads against a blue background adorns the front of this meticulously crafted bag. Its leather trim and velvet back further enhance its luxurious appeal.

Southwest Museum, Los…

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.

Southwest Museum, Los Angeles

Cotton twine, cornhusk,…

The fact that the extra wefts used to create false embroidery decoration are incorporated into the fabric of the bag encourages designs that feature primarily geometric shapes. This bag, for example, is decorated with a highly symmetrical pattern of…

Pink, bronze, cranberry and white beads create a geometric design that is quite similar to those found on some 19th-century twined bags. Elaborate beaded bags of this type were frequently passed down within families from generation to generation as…