Cradle or Baby Carrier
Unknown Artist
c. 1900
Medium
Native-tanned hide, cotton cloth, glass beads, metal beads, brass bell, sinew thread, cotton thread
Dimensions
24.1 × 25.4 × 85.7 cm
Classification
Leather
Department
Art of the Americas
Museum
Cleveland Museum of Art
Credit
Bequest of David S. McMillan
Accession Number
1984.1047
About this artwork
Many Plains peoples hold lavishly quilled or beaded cradles in high esteem—they bestow spiritual benefits on the infant and prestige and honor on the family and the maker, usually a female relative. Indeed, today and in the past, creating such a cradle is often regarded as equal to counting coup, the ultimate act of male bravery in which a warrior touches an enemy with a stick known as a coup stick. This cradle was held in the arms; others have wooden frames that can be propped against a support...