Pipe or Tobacco Bag
Unknown Artist
c. 1870
Medium
Native-tanned hide, yellow pigment, glass beads, red trade cloth, tin cones, sinew thread
Dimensions
71.1 × 12.7 cm
Classification
Leather
Department
Textiles
Museum
Cleveland Museum of Art
Credit
Gift of Amelia Elizabeth White
Accession Number
1937.871
About this artwork
The shape of this bag indicates it was made to hold tobacco and one of the pipes that played a paramount role in the lives of Plains nations. Smoking is a means of prayer—the smoke carries thanks and entreaties into the other-than-human realm—and pipes were lit to seek protection and guidance on new endeavors, during alliance and dispute negotiations, to mark life’s milestones, and in many other situations. By the late 1800s, when this example was made, such bags were a standard element of prest...