Rare Crow Beaded and Quill-Wrapped Horsehair Hide Blanket Strip

composed of seven hide panels, joined together, including four overlaid with red wool stroud and yellow, red and blue-dyed porcupine quill-wrapped horsehair rosettes, each with a bent horseshoe motif, trimmed with red, white and blue glass pony beads, and centering cut hide beaded pendants, alternating with four rectangular panels, sinew sewn in typical colors against a white glass seed bead ground, with hourglass motifs enclosed by narrow strips of parallelograms.

Acquired from Morning Star Gallery, Santa Fe, NM

Very good overall condition. Some wear to the quillwork resulting in the horsehair being exposed.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

This handsome blanket strip includes four striking rosettes that are formed using a rare and beautiful technique of decoration known as quill-wrapped horse hair. This labor-intensive process includes wrapping porcupine quills, often dyed in vibrant colors, around a core or filler of horsehair. The bundles are then sewn to fabric, hide or cloth, and arranged in a decorative manner. Often the bundles are coiled into concentric circles or rosettes. In addition to blanket strips, they can be found on war shirts and moccasins. There is some debate as to whether the quill wrapped hair technique belongs to the Nez Perce or Crow, although it’s generally believed today that it is a Crow tradition that, through trade, found its way to the Nez Perce who valued the unique beauty of the art form.  For further discussion of this see Taylor, “American Indian Art Magazine,” Vol. 6, No. 3, 1981, pp. 42-53:  “the annual trading visits of the (River) Crow to the Mandan, Minnetaree and Ahwahhaway resulted in the barter of horses, mules, leather lodges “and many articles of indian apparel: from the River Crow to the Missouri village tribes. In return the River Crow received “guns, ammunition, axes, kettles, awls and other European manufactures.” Then, according to Lewis and Clark, when the River Crow returned to their country on the Yellowstone, they were in turn visited by the Paunch (Mountain Crow) and Snake Indians “to whom they barter most of the articles they have obtained from the nations on the Missouri, for horses and mules, of which those nations have a greater abundance than themselves” (Thwaites 1905 (6):103-104.)…According to Haines, the Plains tribes also obtained cakes of camas and cowish, baskets and wallets, bows, salmon products and shells; and he indicates that, in addition to the goods of European manufacture, the Nez Perce particularly sought the Sioux-style warbonnet and tanned buffalo robes decorated with porcupine quillwork, “the handiwork of Crow women” (1955: 37,250)....More specifically, the present evidence suggests that the majority of ceremonial costumes decorated with the double lane quill-wrapped hair technique are probably of early Crow rather than Nez Perce origin…Crow costume was distinctive and, from some of the earliest records that these people have been recognized as innovators and the center of distribution for fine craft work (Caitlin 1841 (1): 191; Maximilian 1906 (22): 352- 353; Clark 1885:313).” For a discussion of Crow and Plateau rosette design and an illustration of the "bent horseshoe motif" see Feder, American Indian Art Magazine, vol.6, no. 1, Winter 1980, p. 45. Also see, Conn, 1979, p. 261, pl. 357 for a related blanket strip in the Denver Art Museum.