June 22, 2024 Brian Lebel's Santa Fe Old West Events Auction
This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 6/22/2024
Constructed in the serape style, decorated over the shoulders and down the arms with geometric motifs, worked in natural and dyed porcupine quills. Embellished with rectangular bibs of banded strips of beadwork. The shirt is trimmed overall with ermine pendants attached with red wool trade cloth.
The abundant population of porcupines in the upper Midwest and Great Lakes region gave rise to a variety of beadwork techniques. Quills were dyed with mineral, or vegetable dyes then worked into personal designs by women.
Provenance: Butterfield and Butterfield Auction, San Francisco, circa 1980s
Hidatsa/Mandan War Shirt
The Hidatsa, along with the Mandan and Arikara people, inhabit the Fort Berthold Reservation of Western North Dakota. Their material culture and arts hold much in common, and in fact are difficult to distinguish for specific tribal attribution. For countless generations, quillwork (using both bird and porcupine quills) has been a primary technique of these allied tribes for elaborating many object types – primarily clothing, including shirts of the type offered here. Natural white porcupine quills along with the dyed quills such as the red, purple, orange, pink and blue are examples of the strips over the shoulders and down the sleeves of this shirt, are typically seen hues. On both neck bibs yellow, pale blue, white and red seed beads form decorative lanes. Structurally, this shirt follows traditional form that is essentially poncho-like, in that a basic opening in the center permits the garment to be pulled down over the head to rest on the shoulder. In other words, as with this shirt, a vertical opening such as down the front of the western style jackets and shirts is not present. In addition, the sides of the shirts, as well as the bottoms of the sleeves are typically not sewn closed. Native-tanned, smoke hide composes the body of this shirt – deer and elk being the preferred and typically used types. The quillwork of the shoulder and sleeve bands as well is done on such hide.
The use of pendants made from ermine pelts is significant. Generally, a strip of skin down the center of the back of the tanned ermine pelt is cut – including the black-tipped tail. The strip is usually sewn closed lengthwise, thus resulting in sleeve-like form. As on this shirt, a piece of red wool trade cloth is often included to highlight the tip of each pendant. In their brown summer color phase, this subspecies of Mustelidae is referred to as “weasels”. In winter, when their coats turn snow-like white they’re called “ermines”. Along with mink, otters, badgers, wolverines and others of the species, weasels/ermines are known to be largely meat eaters that prey mainly on other creatures. Native Americans in general interpret the aggressive personalities of these animals as warlike in character that can be conveyed to them as warriors of their respective tribes. Thus, the ermine pelt pendants on shirts (as well as on men’s leggings, and at the ends of warbonnet browbands), can be used wholly only by warriors who have previously led offensive or defensive war, or horse stealing expeditions. Hence highly decorated shirts – and especially those bearing ermine pendants, were reserved as formal wear on special occasions.
Benson Lanford
September 2022