Eastern Great Lakes Cloth and Quillwork Neck Pouch, Probably Ojibwa

dark blue wool trade cloth, red resist dyed cloth strap, hemtape, dyed porcupine quillwork, white glass pony beads, tin cones, red-dyed deer fur.

Earl of Harrowby, Sandon Hall, Staffordshire, England
Sold Sotheby's New York, November 12, 1992, lot 89
Important Private Collection, acquired from the above

Aspen Art Museum, 1999, Art of Grace and Passion: Antique American Indian Art, Aspen CO

Shaw, 1999, pl. 27

Very good condition with only minor wear from age.
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.
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Reference: Glenbow, 1987, p. 84, pl. 76 for a pouch identified as Ojibway, and a discussion on pp. 83-84: "By the end of the eighteenth century, elaborate tattooing had all but ceased in the central Woodlands, probably because more clothing was worn and covered much of the body. However, the same repertoire of motifs used in tattooing is found in another important element of Woodlands Indian costume, the decorated pouch. The intriguing possibility exists that, in the course of the eighteenth century, some of the symbolic motifs previously used in tattooing were transferred to the outsides of pouches - containers of medicines worn close to the body. Images of guardian spirits such as thunderbirds, underwater panthers, and horned serpents are the motifs most frequently depicted on pouches collected during the eighteenth century, as they apparently had been in tattooing.""; King, 1982, p. 51, pl. 53(d); Brasser, 1976, p. 108, pl. 78; Sotheby's New York, May 2005 lot 13.