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Beaded Deerskin Bag

Apache

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About The Artwork

This beautiful bag has some unusual features. The first is a pair of mirron image whirling log protection symbols. The beads used are clear with vestiges of fine silver in the holes. The outline is done in clear, deep cobalt blue beads. The symbol beneath is an 8 pointed star with points in the four primary directions and four secondary directions. This, too, is a symbol for protection. The reverse of the bag is or seems more ornamental, but is still cruciform in nature with leaflike forms growing from the four corners on a stepped diamond design. All the best and rarest beads have been used in quantity with this piece. The cranberry red glass was made using gold. The variety of translucent turquoise blues were prized for their color and required special care for the high lead content that was necessary for their color. They are as fragile as crystal and were referred to as "exploding blues". The entire bag from seams to decoration is worked with tade silk thread, which is easier to work with than sinew.

About The Artist

"The Western Apaches include five independent divisions speaking slightly different varieties of the same language; one of these is the San Carlos Apaches. Each division consists of two to five independent bands of some 50 to 700 members each (in 1880). Each of these in turn included several locals groups of 35 to 200 people. These were the basic landholding and political units. The Apaches live in a mountain and canyon country of forests, well-watered valleys and deserts. They depended mainly on hunting deer and antelope and on gathering wild plants such as mescal tubers, cactus fruits, mesquite beans and pinon nuts. Farming provided about a quarter of their foods from corn, beans and squash raised on small irrigated plots in the mountains. . . " The Native Americans The Indigenous People of North America edited by Colin F. Taylor

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