Tobacco bag with pipe-stem case
Unknown Artist
ca. 1870
Medium
Tanned leather, glass beads, wool cloth, metal cones, and horsehair
Dimensions
7 1/2 × 27 in. (19.1 × 68.6 cm)
Classification
Tobacco Bag with Pipe-Stem Case
Culture
Northern Cheyenne, Native American
Department
The American Wing
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
The Charles and Valerie Diker Collection of Native American Art, Gift of Charles and Valerie Diker, 2018
Accession Number
2018.867.7
Art Historical Context
This exquisite tobacco bag with pipe-st case, crafted by an unknown Northern Cheyenne artist around 1870, offers a window into the rich material culture of the Northern Plains Native Americans. Measuring an impressive 7½ × 27 inches, it served both practical and ceremonial purposes, holding tobacco and protecting delicate pipe stems essential for smoking rituals—sacred practices central to Cheyenne social and spiritual life during a time of rapid change on the Great Plains. The artwork showcases masterful beadwork techniques using vibrant glass beads, likely traded goods, meticulously applied...