Not Given, Texas (not certain), United States / Mexico, North America
Accession Date:
1853
Collection Date:
1828 to 1851
Notes:
FROM CARD: "BUCKSKIN CAT. NO. 1480 IS PONCHO TYPE CAPE ONLY, DECORATED WITH CUT FRINGE AT SIDES AND BOTTOM; SKIN STRING PENDANTS CHEST AND BACK AREA; FIVE LARGE SIZE TRADE BEADS ON ONE PENDANT; PRINCIPAL DECORATION LARGE AREAS OF SOLID RED PAINT, FRONT AND BACK. 1957 JOHN EWERS FOUND AN UNMARKED APRON-LIKE PIECE OF SKIN WITH SOME RED OCHRE ON IT. THIS HAS SMALL SLOTS CUT ALONG THE UPPER EDGE AND A FEW ACROSS NEAR THE TOP, AS IF FOR LACING, AND IT APPEARS AS THOUGH THIS MAY BE PART (?FRONT) OF A SKIRT WHICH BELONGED WITH NUMBER. IT IS 24" W., AND 36" L, WITH A 6" FRINGE."
ACCORDING TO JOHN C. EWERS THIS IS A PAINTED AND FRINGED SLEEVELESS PONCHO OR CAPE/UPPER GARMENT WORN AS A WOMAN'S DRESS TOP. IT WAS WORN WITH A SEPARATE SKIRT. IT WAS MADE FROM A SINGLE SKIN, PROBABLY DEER OR ANTLER. THE UNMARKED APRON-LIKE SKIRT? FRAGMENT IS NUMBERED ET14888. See Ewers, John C. "CLIMATE, ACCULTURATION, AND COSTUME A HISTORY OF WOMEN'S CLOTHING AMONG THE INDIANS OF THE SOUTHERN PLAINS." Plains Anthropologist 25, no. 87 (1980): 63–82. http://www.jstor.org/stable/25667588.
There are images and discussion of this object in "The Indians of Texas in 1830" by Jean Louis Berlandier, edited and introduced by John C. Ewers, and translated by Patricia Reading Leclercq. Washington : Smithsonian Institution Press, 1969.
