Bag
- Culture
- Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) artist
- Date
- c.1820
- made in
- North and Central America
- Classification
- Jewelry & personal accessories, textiles
- Collection
- Arts of Africa, Oceania, and the Americas
- Current Location
- Not on view
- Dimensions
- without strap: 7 1/2 × 6 1/2 in. (19.1 × 16.5 cm)
- Credit Line
- Gift of Elizabeth B. and Robert Wells Streett
- Rights
- Public Domain
- Object Number
- 21:2022
NOTES
Haudenosaunee women made numerous handbags for sale through the 19th century. This visionary artist incorporated white beads equally with the black-cloth ground to create a spiraling composition. Most Haudenosaunee souvenir bags, in contrast, use polychrome beads to create dense, kaleidoscopic designs.
Based on European coin purses, these bags sold at Niagara Falls and other tourist destinations, urban transportation centers, and resorts such as Saratoga Springs.
Based on European coin purses, these bags sold at Niagara Falls and other tourist destinations, urban transportation centers, and resorts such as Saratoga Springs.
Provenance
-2006
Private Collection, Oneida, NY
2006 - 2018
Gerry Biron and JoAnne Russo, Saxtons River, VT, purchased from private collector [1]
2018/05/05
In auction of “American Indian and Ethnographic Art,” at Skinner, Boston, May 5, 2018, lot no. 304 [2]
2018 - 2022
Elizabeth B. and Robert Wells Streett, St. Louis, MO [3]
2022 -
Saint Louis Art Museum, Gift of Elizabeth B. and Robert Wells Streett [4]
Notes:
[1] Mr. Biron purchased this work from a private collector in Oneida, NY, in 2006 [fact sheet provided by Gerry Biron, SLAM document files].
[2] See the auction catalog [“American Indian and Ethnographic Art,” Skinner, Boston, May 5, 2018, p. 58].
[3] The Streett collection object tag includes 18-20 inventory number; in the Streett collection, the first two digits of inventory numbers correspond to the year acquired, i.e., 18 stands for 2018.
[4] Minutes of the Collections Committe of the Board of Trustees, Saint Louis Art Museum, May 2, 2022.
Private Collection, Oneida, NY
2006 - 2018
Gerry Biron and JoAnne Russo, Saxtons River, VT, purchased from private collector [1]
2018/05/05
In auction of “American Indian and Ethnographic Art,” at Skinner, Boston, May 5, 2018, lot no. 304 [2]
2018 - 2022
Elizabeth B. and Robert Wells Streett, St. Louis, MO [3]
2022 -
Saint Louis Art Museum, Gift of Elizabeth B. and Robert Wells Streett [4]
Notes:
[1] Mr. Biron purchased this work from a private collector in Oneida, NY, in 2006 [fact sheet provided by Gerry Biron, SLAM document files].
[2] See the auction catalog [“American Indian and Ethnographic Art,” Skinner, Boston, May 5, 2018, p. 58].
[3] The Streett collection object tag includes 18-20 inventory number; in the Streett collection, the first two digits of inventory numbers correspond to the year acquired, i.e., 18 stands for 2018.
[4] Minutes of the Collections Committe of the Board of Trustees, Saint Louis Art Museum, May 2, 2022.
We regularly update records, which may be incomplete. If you have additional information, please contact us at provenance@slam.org.